The U.S. needs to “supercharge” the defense industrial base to replenish “finite” munitions used in the war with Iran, Pentagon leaders told Senate lawmakers Tuesday.
“There are finite limits to the magazine, and I have all the faith in the world that they’re being employed judiciously,” Adm. Samuel Paparo, the chief of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Paparo warned in written testimony that China’s rapidly modernizing military is preparing for a high-intensity conflict, even as the U.S. struggles with a “mismatch” between how long it takes to make munitions and how many the military needs. But he downplayed worries about munition levels in the public hearing.
“I think we maintain deep magazines, and there’s no walking away from the quantitative use of weapons,” he said. “Our way forward is to supercharge our defense industrial base, and equally important is to innovate with nontraditional primes” — newer defense companies such as Anduril, Palantir and SpaceX.
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Even before the war with Iran, the state of the munitions stockpiles was raising concerns that the U.S. had too few of the weapons it would need in a conflict with China. Now, those dwindling supplies, along with a new national defense strategy that emphasizes the Western Hemisphere, are fueling criticism that the U.S. is losing its focus on China as a potential threat.
The carrier Abraham Lincoln was ordered to redeploy from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East in mid-January, as well as multiple Amphibious Ready Groups and Marine Expeditionary Units and weapons.
Asked by Sen. Rick Scott about the impact of the troop shift from the Pacific, Paparo said other forces had filled the gap, but he wants more ready-to-go amphibious ships.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s ranking member, Sen. Jack Reed, voiced anxiety that President Donald Trump “transferred major military capabilities” from the Pacific to the Middle East. At the same time, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he was “tremendously concerned” and that “the American people really need and deserve to know more.”
Democrats pressed Paparo on how long U.S. stockpiles could sustain current rates of fire after heavy use of missiles and other weapons in the Middle East, but he did not offer details and said he had given a fuller answer in a classified session.
Paparo said he strongly backs the operation against Iran, saying its success is “very important” to deterring threats from the People’s Republic of China, adding that U.S. forces are learning battlefield lessons.
“There’s no substitute for prevailing on the battlefield,” he said. “What I want the PRC to see is that the United States employs capability and will in response to aggression. That supports deterrence. Deterrence is our highest duty.”
Allies in the Indo-Pacific are also concerned the U.S. is moving weapons to the Middle East. The South Korean government objected to an imminent redeployment to the Middle East of up to 48 interceptors for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD.
The commander of U.S. forces in Korea, Gen. Xavier Brunson, clarified for lawmakers Tuesday that the THAAD launchers had been moved recently, but they were not leaving South Korea. “We are sending munitions forward,” he said, “and those are sitting right now waiting to move.”
Washington also notified Japan of possible delays in deliveries of Tomahawk missiles as the U.S. military has expended them against Iran.
Pentagon officials, concerned about the slow pace and high cost of weapons manufacturing, have reached out to automakers and are working with traditional defense contractors to ramp up munitions production. The Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal 2027 increases funding for missile procurement by 188 percent — though the budget plan relies on Congress passing a politically tricky reconciliation package.
Pentagon officials separately on Tuesday unveiled budget details, drafted before the Iran war, that include $31.8 billion for critical land-based missiles, including increased purchases of Patriot systems, THAAD, Precision Strike Missiles and more. The strategy is to use multiyear orders to prompt the defense industry to expand its production capacity.
Paparo hailed efforts to lean on name-brand defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, saying he was “eager to see more” and that the Pentagon must also attract new suppliers.
“We really must press the system with nontraditional vendors, bringing to bear new low-cost munitions, such as hypersonics, low-cost cruise missiles, and then across a variety of drone and unmanned systems,” he said.
Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker warned that despite ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, China is still the top long-term threat to the U.S., calling it the “leader of the axis of aggressors.” As ties are deepening among U.S. adversaries, the U.S. should not disparage allies, he said.
“People need to stop saying otherwise. It is not helpful when American leaders speak of our alliances with derision,” Wicker said. “We must be clear about the numerous political, strategic and moral benefits that our country receives from its alliances.”
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