President Donald Trump's administration is facing fresh scrutiny about the status of the US military's weapons stockpile amid a lull in the Iran war.
Mr Trump pushed back on suggestions the conflict in the Middle East is depleting US munitions supplies after NBC News reported last week that military commanders have been selective in which Iranian projectiles to block to preserve the Pentagon’s diminishing supply of interceptors.
“We're in very good shape. But for some of the more sophisticated stuff, we'd certainly like that more,” Mr Trump said.
At the same time, the President appeared to acknowledge the urgency in replenishing the stockpile.
“We're building it very rapidly. Plants are being built. A lot of equipment is being built. The Patriots, in particular, are being built. THAAD system is going up,” he said.
New figures from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies showed the US air defence campaign has been a costly one for the Pentagon’s arms stockpile. Patriot inventories now sit below 1,000 compared to the 2,330 the US had before the war, while THAAD is at about 250 compared to 452 before February 28.
“I want to be crystal clear: the US military, and I’ve verified this every which way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be,” Mike Waltz, the US envoy to the UN, told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.
Experts warn depleting munitions jeopardises military readiness to fight a war against China. Recent spending requests from the defence department suggest the administration understands the urgency to beef up supplies.
In June, the White House requested $95 billion in the defence budget for the 2027 fiscal year and submitted a $21 billion supplemental request to Congress last month.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has been tapping into the private sector to bolster its supply chain for the minerals needed to build defence systems.
This includes a $25 million investment with RElement Technologies to expand domestic refining capacity and secure domestic access to materials used for advanced defence systems, aerospace components and secure communications.
It also committed a $500 million conditional loan, in addition to private capital, to Phoenix Tailings that would go towards supporting a new rare-earth separation and metallisation plant. The company said once it begins operations, it will process feedstocks to produce the light and heavy rare-earth metals needed by defence systems and allied supply chains.
And in March, the Pentagon said it would invest $27 million for the domestic excavation, extraction, processing and refinement of antimony, a metalloid and key component in materials for armour-piercing shells and other military purposes.
This public-private push underscores how the US is seeking to boost its domestic supply chain for the critical minerals and rare-earth elements necessary for defence systems, as it remains heavily reliant on Chinese imports.
“You will see that investments in MP Materials, USA Rare Earths, Phoenix Tailings and a few other companies signals an extraordinary focus on a narrow band of heavy rare-earth elements, and the administration has put hundreds of billions of dollars … in an attempt to make those industries domestically viable,” said Eric Robinson, special counsel at Baker Botts law firm.
During his April 30 hearing before legislators, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said it could take months or even years to replenish the US inventories, although he has denied the country is facing a munitions stockpile crisis.
Congress must first appropriate the funds needed by the Pentagon and White House before a years-long process begins to source the components and permanent magnets for those systems.
“It's not something that the Pentagon can just write a cheque and solve tomorrow,” Mr Robinson said.
