At a Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit hosted by Sen. McCormick on
Wednesday, Trump told arms makers, "Our products are world-class, but the pace
needs to be faster." His appearance highlighted the administration's push to
expand defense production as a prolonged Middle East conflict has depleted large
numbers of missiles, interceptors and other munitions and exposed limits in U.S.
military supply chains and production capacity. Earlier Wednesday the Department
of Defense launched the National Security Finance Fund to provide funding and
credit to companies addressing critical-minerals supply shortfalls deemed
essential to national security.
