Since taking office, this administration has found something Washington rarely agrees on: The defense industrial base has to be rebuilt now, not eventually. After nearly four decades of service, I’ve watched that kind of agreement come and go before without much to show for it. This time is different.
Just last week, the Pentagon announced new long-term agreements to accelerate production of Tomahawk cruise missiles, part of a larger industry trend of long-term deals for critical munitions. The Tomahawk deal alone will support the production of nearly 1,000 new munitions, create thousands of jobs, and support hundreds of small businesses that serve as suppliers. Taken together, these announcements are proof that President Donald Trump’s reindustrialization strategy is no longer just a promise. It’s being built, one contract and one step at a time.
Recommended Stories
The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Center for the Industrial Base recently found measurable improvement in America’s wartime production capacity since War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reform push began in November, though the study is candid that there’s still ground to make up. Regardless, the positive trend line is real and can be seen through several recent long-term contracts and deal announcements at home and abroad.
At the NATO summit in Turkey last month, Trump secured nearly $3 billion in allied investment in U.S. munitions production. As American anti-missile systems are the backbone of NATO defense, securing allied funding on top of increased U.S. investment is a key achievement.
These new contract announcements are already facilitating investments in domestic production capacity. Lockheed Martin recently broke ground on a new munitions building, Raytheon completed a major expansion of its missile integration facility to grow capacity by 50%, and GE Aerospace announced a $1 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing capability.
Industry has said for years that it can’t build ahead of demand that it isn’t sure will last, which is a fair consideration. Thankfully, this administration has been willing to meet that ask with long-term production agreements, predictable demand signals, and increased funding — not just rhetoric.
For example, the fiscal 2027 budget request seeks a roughly 188% increase in missile procurement across the services, including a Navy request for Tomahawk funding alone that jumps more than tenfold over the year before.
Congress has already begun to answer in kind, authorizing multi-year procurement authority for eight critical munitions programs in the fiscal 2026 defense bill.
Taken together, these are durable demand signals that let a company break ground on a new production line, hire new workers, or upgrade equipment and remain confident in a return on their investment.
That matters because the character of war itself is shifting under our feet, from massed drone swarms to hypersonics to AI-directed targeting. The force that wins the next fight will be the one whose industrial base can adapt and scale fastest. Future conflicts will require both low-cost options and high-end technologies, such as Tomahawks, to contend with sophisticated threats from near-peers for which low-cost options are not viable. It will take a concerted effort from both new entrants and legacy primes.
None of that happens if industry can’t count on steady purchasing power year over year. Fortunately, that’s exactly the bargain this administration has tried to strike. Washington’s job has been to prove it will back investments with real demand signals. Industry’s job is to build. Neither side holds up on autopilot.
THE DONROE DOCTRINE IS WORKING
To effectively plan and prepare for the wars of the future, Congress needs to keep extending multi-year procurement authority and funding certainty across the portfolio, and the Pentagon should continue to award long-term contracts that provide the stability needed for large production investments.
The results already on the ground say the strategy is already working. Washington’s job now is to make sure industry never loses the signal it needs to keep building and keep our forces ready, both for today’s conflicts and tomorrow’s.
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Keith Kellogg is co-chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute. He previously served as U.S. special presidential envoy for Ukraine.
