Washington: Six top defence contractors have agreed to quadruple production of what President Donald Trump has termed “Exquisite Class Weaponry” following a meeting at the White House on munitions production.
“We just concluded a very good meeting with the largest US Defence Manufacturing Companies where we discussed Production and Production Schedules,” Trump said in a post this afternoon on Truth Social.
“They have agreed to quadruple Production of the ‘Exquisite Class’ Weaponry in that we want to reach, as rapidly as possible, the highest levels of quantity. Expansion began three months prior to the meeting, and Plants and Production of many of these Weapons are already under way,” he said.
It was not immediately clear whether the meeting — which was attended by the chief executives of RTX, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, L3Harris Missile Solutions and Honeywell Aerospace — resulted in any new agreements to boost production beyond those previously announced by the Pentagon since the beginning of the year.
Those agreements include a multiyear deal to triple PAC-3 production and quadruple THAAD interceptor production with Lockheed. It also included separate multiyear deals with RTX to boost production for the Tomahawk, AMRAAM air-to-air missile, Standard Missile-3 IIA and IB, and Standard Missile-6, with production for certain of those munitions set to double or quadruple, RTX said at the time.
Those deals, announced as “framework agreements,” have yet to translate into definitised contracts.
The Defence Department also previously announced that it will invest $1 billion into a spinoff of L3Harris’s missile solutions business, which produces solid rocket motors and other critical components for munitions. An initial public offering is planned for later this year.
And during an earnings call in January, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company was in talks with the Pentagon over a multiyear contract for the PAC-3 seeker, although neither a framework agreement nor final contract has been announced yet.
In a statement, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said the company had agreed to quadruple “critical munitions production” but provided few other details.
“As a result of President Trump’s leadership, we began this work months ago with [Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Deputy Secretary of Defence Stephen Feinberg], and are committed to working with our industry partners to further strengthen the American military’s unparalleled capability with the greatest munitions in the world,” the spokesperson said. “We are moving with urgency, and we will deliver.”
An RTX spokesperson said the company “is proud to support the Administration’s goals of defending the US and its allies at this critical moment and committed to accelerating the production of five key munitions in accordance with the historic frameworks reached with the War Department last month.”
Northrop also did not provide details on increasing weapons production.
“As a key defence partner, Northrop Grumman participated in the White House meeting today,” the company stated. “We support the President’s focus on speed and investment to deliver military capabilities. With our industry-leading levels of investment and decades of proven performance, we continue to grow production capacity and deliver mission-ready technologies for the nation’s warfighters.”
Boeing confirmed it participated in the meeting but provided no further information. Other defence companies who attended the meeting have yet to respond to a request for comment.
The meeting comes amid the first week of US strikes on Iran, which have raised questions about munitions stockpiles and if weapons usage could translate into added US national security risk if further conflicts arose. Trump and top Defence Department brass — including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen Dan Caine — have repeatedly said munitions levels are not currently a concern.
“We have a virtually unlimited supply of Medium and Upper Medium Grade Munitions, which we are using, as an example, in Iran, and recently used in Venezuela,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. “Regardless, however, we have also increased Orders at these levels.”
A follow on meeting between Trump and the defence CEOs will take place in two months, the president said in the post.
