The Pentagon has approached major US car manufacturers General Motors and Ford about producing weapons and military equipment, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing sources.
General Motors already supplies military vehicles to the Pentagon through its GM Defense unit, while Ford has no major military contracts.
The discussions reportedly involved senior executives and focused on whether – and how quickly – civilian factories could be redirected toward producing munitions and other military supplies, as Washington seeks to replenish stockpiles depleted by the Ukraine conflict and the war on Iran, the outlet wrote on Wednesday.
GE Aerospace and vehicle and machinery maker Oshkosh were also involved in the talks, which began before the US-Israeli war against Iran started on February 28, it added.
Officials have cast the push as a move to put industry on a “wartime footing,” the outlet noted, invoking World War II-era mobilization, when Detroit automakers halted car output to produce bombers, aircraft engines and trucks.
The war against Iran has significantly strained US weapons stockpiles. The American military has launched more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles during the first four weeks of the campaign. The rate has prompted alarm among some Pentagon officials, the Washington Post reported last month. While the US Department of War does not disclose the exact number of Tomahawks it has, analysis suggests that before Operation Epic Fury, the US Navy had between 4,000 and 4,500 such missiles.
US President Donald Trump has requested a record-breaking military budget of around $1.5 trillion for the 2027 fiscal year, up from nearly $1 trillion this year, according to the administration’s budget outline. The proposal includes more than $1.1 trillion in base defense funding alongside additional allocations tied to ongoing military operations.
The war in Iran is costing the US government roughly $2 billion a day, former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed on X on Thursday. Independent online tracker WarSpend estimates that Washington has spent nearly $48 billion on the conflict since its start.