Trump to press defense executives to boost weapons production

For Trump, expanding defense manufacturing has become part of a wider economic strategy to revive U.S. industrial capacity, with the Pentagon increasingly viewed as a catalyst for factory investment, advanced manufacturing and domestic supply chains.

In late June, Trump met with munitions makers at the White House to urge the industry to move faster.

The United States has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations, raising concerns about inventories of key air-defense and precision-guided weapons and increasing pressure on contractors to boost output. Soaring demand for rocket motors used to power missiles and other weapons has spurred new thinking about supply chains.

Seeking big returns, Silicon Valley-style startups are now taking on defense companies that have long dominated the industry, pulled into the competition by a need for production speed, high volume and lower costs. Legacy solid rocket motor makers Northrop Grumman NOC.N and L3Harris LHX.N say they have been pushing their own research and development to pull in new technologies like 3D printing and new mixing technologies.