A Reuters article reports that U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg has been working behind the scenes in recent days on a supplemental budget request of around $50 billion. The funds would cover new weapons and ammunition which have been exhausted in “recent conflicts including those in the Middle East,” the article claims. However, it is well known that the U.S.’ supply of much of its top military equipment is in short supply due to four years of arming Ukraine as well as decades of decreasing industrial capacity. The Trump administration has attempted to massively scale this up, although it remains to be seen how successful they will be.
Administration officials plan to meet with executives from major defense contractors at the White House on Friday to discuss accelerating production along these lines.
At the same time, the Pentagon is working to send more air defenses to U.S. forces around Iran as the war apparently exceeds original expectations. Politico reports that this will consist of especially smaller, less expensive counter-drone systems that the department has been developing over the last several years, but that have never been tested in combat.
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command is asking the Pentagon to send more military intelligence officers to its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to support the operations against Iran. This is reportedly a deployment for at least 100 days, but more likely through September, according to a notification obtained by POLITICO.
