The Donald Trump administration is in talks over funding deals with a with a group of drone companies as part of its effort to increase domestic production and lower the costs of the vital weapons, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Among the companies the Pentagon has identified for possible funding are Performance Drone Works, which won a contract to supply the Army with reconnaissance drones; Unusual Machines, a drone components supplier that counts Donald Trump Jr. as a shareholder and advisory board member; and Neros Technologies, a Sequoia Capital-backed startup building small first-person view drones, the report added.
This comes amid a new analysis that has warned that the United States could require several years to replenish key missile stockpiles heavily used during the conflict with Iran. The report, released on Wednesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and provided to Associated Press, examined inventories of Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as Patriot and THAAD air defence interceptors.
“The United States has enough munitions for any plausible scenario in the Iran war, but the depleted inventories have created a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict,” the report stated. “The time needed to rebuild those inventories has thus become a major concern.”
The study said that despite record defence spending proposals under Donald Trump’s administration, rebuilding advanced weapons stockpiles would take years because of manufacturing limitations rather than funding shortages.
“The problem today isn’t money; it’s time,” the report said. It added that expanding production capacity for complex missile systems would require years of industrial investment and supply chain development.
The report estimates that replenishing more than 1,000 Tomahawk missiles used during operations against Iran could take until late 2030. Currently, fewer than 200 Tomahawk missiles are manufactured annually, although manufacturer RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon, aims to expand production to more than 1,000 per year.
According to the report, replacing approximately 290 THAAD interceptors could take until the end of 2029, while replenishing more than 1,000 Patriot interceptors may take until mid-2029.
Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the missiles, said it was investing $9bn through 2030 to expand production, including opening a new facility in Alabama.
The report also noted that Patriot systems remain in high demand because they are being supplied to Ukraine while also supporting the defence needs of 17 allied countries.
Officials in the Trump administration have insisted the US military remains fully prepared for future conflicts. During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth praised efforts to expand US weapons manufacturing capacity. “We’re getting weapons faster than ever,” he said.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell also said the military “has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing”.
However, some defence analysts expressed concern over the pace of replenishment. Virginia Burger, a senior defence policy analyst at the Project On Government Oversight and a former Marine officer, said officials were likely aware of the strain on stockpiles before the conflict escalated.
“Hey, if we go to this fight, even in the most conservative estimates, we are drawing down our stockpiles to a critical level,” she said, describing what officials may have warned internally.
The report’s co-author, retired Marine colonel Mark Cancian, said the roots of the issue dated back to the end of the Cold War, when the US expected future conflicts to be short and regional rather than prolonged wars requiring large quantities of advanced munitions.
“The thinking started to change, but it just takes time to build inventories,” he said.
Cancian also said the administration of former President Joe Biden had begun efforts to expand defence manufacturing capacity before Trump significantly increased funding levels. “A lot of people in the Trump administration are inclined to say that everything was terrible until they arrived, and that’s not true,” he said. “Now, it is true that the Trump administration really increased funding.”