It will take months or years for the Pentagon to replace the munitions used during the war in Iran, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told senators on Thursday.
Hegseth appeared in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, where he told lawmakers that the specific time frame will depend on the exact munition. But they are hoping to expedite and increase the production “two to three, four [times] of what we have today.”
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“The president has charged [us] with not just replacing anything, but filling it up, as he might say, to the tippy top, make sure that the remainder of this term and future presidents have all the munitions they need for any level of contingencies, especially considering the dangerous world we live in,” he said.
Hegseth also blamed the Biden administration for giving weapons to Ukraine and said that contributed to the situation the military finds itself in now.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) asked Hegseth how long it will take to replenish the critical munitions, and he said, “I think that’s exactly the right question too, senator, because the time frame we were existing under, it was unacceptable. … Months and years, fast. We’re building new plants in real time.”
Since the start of 2026, several defense contractors opened new facilities, as Hegseth referenced, which comes with the projection of thousands of new jobs. Those include Redstone Raytheon Missile Integration Facility in Huntsville, Alabama; Prometheus Energetics in Crane, Indiana; GE Aerospace in Indianapolis, Indiana; Firehawk Aerospace in Crawford, Mississippi; Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Mississippi; NC Global TransPark in Kinston, North Carolina; and Minot Air Force Base nonresidential construction projects in Minot, North Dakota.
Hegseth, Gen. Dan Caine, and acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst appeared in front of the House and Senate armed services committees this week to detail their $1.5 trillion defense budget request, which was created prior to the war and does not factor in the cost.
The Pentagon’s Munitions Acceleration Council has identified 14 legacy and emerging munitions that are part of its plan to ramp up production. Those are Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile segment enhancement interceptors; Terminal High Altitude Air Defense interceptors; Standard Missile-3 IIA; SM-6; SM-3 Block IB; Tomahawk land attack missile; joint advanced tactical missile; low-cost cruise missile; advanced medium-range air-to-air missile; maritime strike Tomahawk; joint air-to-surface standoff missile-extended range; long range anti-ship missile; low-cost hypersonic strike weapons; and precision strike missile increment 1.
One budget document said: “These include 12 legacy munitions that are foundational to U.S. military operations and two emerging capabilities that represent advancements in technology and operational effectiveness. These investments are vital to ensuring the Department’s ability to meet immediate and long-term munitions demands, replenish depleted stockpiles, support the operational needs of U.S. forces, allies, and partners, reestablish deterrence, and meet long-term demand.”
Hurst told the House committee on Wednesday that to date, the war has cost roughly $25 billion. It is unclear, however, if that total factors in replacing the aircraft lost in the conflict and repairs to damaged U.S. military bases in the Middle East that were targeted, or just replacing the munitions used.
HEGSETH AND CAINE’S FIRST PUBLIC HEARING ON IRAN WAR DOMINATED BY PARTISAN CLASHES
In a separate hearing on Thursday, Air Force chief of staff Kenneth Wilsbach acknowledged that the service is hoping for a supplemental funding package to aid in replacing damaged or destroyed military aircraft.
“We hope to be able to address this in a supplemental, for the aircraft that we’ve lost, and the procurement, going forward, is meant to increase the number of tails we have, especially in the fighter force, but it also includes bombers and tankers as well,” Wilsbach said during a House appropriations defense subcommittee hearing. “Both supplemental and the budget, the ’27 budget, is supposed to address those losses.”
