President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth met Friday with the CEOs of several major defense contractors as the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran entered its sixth day. Trump said after the meeting that production of advanced weapons will dramatically increase.
“We discussed Production and Production Schedules,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, Newsmax reported. “They have agreed to quadruple Production of the ‘Exquisite Class’ Weaponry in that we want to reach, as rapidly as possible, the highest levels of quantity.”
Trump did not explain exactly what he meant by “exquisite class” terminology. According to Bloomberg, the phrase likely refers to sophisticated precision missiles that are difficult to manufacture and designed to strike complex targets.
Examples include RTX’s Standard Missile 6 and Tomahawk missiles, along with Lockheed Martin’s Patriot interceptor known as the MSE.
Trump said executives from BAE Systems, Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX attended the meeting.
He added that the executives will meet with him again in two months. Trump said expansion of weapons manufacturing had already begun before the meeting. “Plants and Production of many of these Weapons are already underway,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon reached agreements with Lockheed Martin and RTX to boost production of several high-demand weapons systems.
Those include Patriot air defense missiles, the THAAD missile defense system, and Standard missiles.
Lockheed Martin confirmed after the meeting that it had agreed to increase output. “We have agreed to quadruple critical munitions production,” the company said in a statement reported by Bloomberg. “We are moving with urgency, and we will deliver.”
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the meeting had been scheduled before the start of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28.
The joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign is targeting Iran’s political leadership and military infrastructure.
Leavitt said the United States has sufficient weapons stockpiles to accomplish the operation’s objectives.
“As the president has maintained, we have more than enough ammunition and weapons stockpiles to achieve the objectives of Operation Epic Fury and beyond,” Leavitt said. She added that the administration believes the operation is already progressing toward its goals.
“We are well on our way,” Leavitt said. “I won’t get ahead of the president on broadcasting any timelines.” Leavitt did say, however, that the operation is expected to last four to six weeks.
“What I will tell you is what President Trump has already laid out, which is that the achievable objectives of Operation Epic Fury we expect it to last about four to six weeks, and we are well on our way to achieving those objectives,” she said.
Those objectives include targeting Iran’s leadership, dismantling its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, destroying its navy, weakening its proxy terror networks, and empowering Iranians to reclaim their government.
“Ultimately, the president has made it very clear he wants to take out the threat of Iran to the United States, and Operation Epic Fury is well on its way to doing that,” Leavitt said.
She also suggested the administration is considering the future leadership of Iran.
“As for the future of Iran, as the president has pointed to, of course it’s in the best interest of the United States of America for Iran to no longer be led by a radical terrorist regime that chants ‘Death to America’ and is lying to the United States and the world about their secret ambitions to possess a nuclear bomb,” Leavitt said. “President Trump does not want to see that.”
“He wants to take an interest in pursuing who the next leader of the Iranian country is going to be, and that has yet to be seen,” she said. “And the president is discussing it and deliberating it.”
