Pentagon on Figures Showing Some Weapons at Less than Half Pre-War Supply: ‘Always Like to Have More’, Can Beat Anyone

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey said that “the U.S. military can defeat any threat at the time and place of our choosing.” But also responded to a question on figures showing certain inventories at less than half of their pre-Iran War levels by saying that “we would always like to have more weapons” than we currently do.

Host Bret Baier asked, “Are we okay? If the president says, tomorrow, we’re going to have this sustained effort inside Iran, do we have the munitions to make that happen?”

Duffey answered, “I think President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, Chairman Caine have all stated clearly, we are ready, the U.S. military can defeat any threat at the time and place of our choosing. And I think that remains true today.”

Later, Baier asked, “So, these headlines about the stockpile have been ugly. Reuters, ‘U.S. Has Used ‘Virtually All’ of Its Long-Range Precision Missiles During…Iran War’. That’s from August 4. Washington Post, there’s a clash between the president and Hegseth ‘at Camp David over Iran Missile Depletion Concerns’. AP, ‘Pentagon Pushes Defense Companies to Boost Weapons Production After Concerns of Depleted Stocks’. When these stories pop and you go to, like, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and they talk about the remaining stockpile,” Baier then displayed a graphic showing the U.S. has 61-65% of its pre-war inventory of Tomahawks, 10-22% for PrSM, 52-62% for THAAD, and 33-35% for Patriot missiles.

He then asked, “They have some scary numbers there. Are those wrong numbers?”

Duffey answered, “Well, we would always like to have more weapons than we have right now, which is why we are so focused on engaging with our industrial partners, entering these deals, and ensuring that we ramp the production of these key missiles as quickly as possible. We’re making up for lost time. The Biden administration did not deliver. They did not focus on developing the industrial base that we need in order to ensure that we have munitions for the foreseeable future. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are delivering.”