Hegseth Tells Defense Contractors 'Build More and Build Faster' as Pentagon Launches 'Arsenal of Freedom' Push
In a video posted Thursday, the Secretary of War said performance, not a company's name, should decide who supplies the military. The push aims to cut red tape, widen competition and speed up missile and interceptor output.
The Pentagon is putting weapons makers on notice. Fox News reports that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted a video Thursday promoting the administration's "Arsenal of Freedom" initiative, which aims to cut procurement red tape, expand competition and speed up production of advanced weapons.
What he said. "The Arsenal of Freedom has been UNLEASHED," Hegseth wrote on X. In the video he said: "I don't care what company is on the side of the rocket. Don't care. The only thing we ask ourselves is, is it the best?" He described the mandate from the president as "build more and build faster," and tied it to missiles, interceptors and hypersonic weapons.
The strategy. Fox describes the approach as streamlining Pentagon buying, lowering bureaucratic barriers and bringing more private companies and tech startups into the military supply chain, with an emphasis on commercial technology and competition among contractors. The name echoes the World War II "Arsenal of Democracy."
The tour. Hegseth began a nationwide tour of defense manufacturing earlier this year at a Newport News, Virginia, shipyard. On Oct. 20 he visited Riverside Machine and Engineering in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, with SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, where he spoke of a "golden age of American manufacturing."
The pressure. Fox ties the push to the need to rebuild stockpiles during the almost eight-month war with Iran. It points to an earlier report that more than half of some U.S. weapons stockpiles were used in the conflict. Fox says it asked the Pentagon for comment.
Note for readers: this is the administration's own framing of its policy as carried by Fox. The story does not give production targets or contract figures.