WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act to address constraints in weapons supply and development for munitions production and supply chains, according to a memo made public on Tuesday.
The move comes amid growing concern in Washington about the capacity of U.S. weapons manufacturers to meet demand.
Solid rocket motors, igniters and guidance systems are among the most critical and capacity-constrained sub-systems needed for weapons production, both for legacy systems and future modernization programs.
“I hereby find that conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs,” Trump said in a June 11 memorandum to the Pentagon chief.
He cited “limited production capacity, fragile supply chains, long-lead dependencies, and related production bottlenecks.”
The memo to the defense secretary delegates authority to pursue voluntary agreements with private industry aimed at shoring up the defense industrial base.
The Defense Production Act allows the president or those granted authority to consult with representatives of industry, business, and other interests to establish voluntary agreements to help provide for the national defense, but only when conditions exist that may pose a direct threat.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones, Mike Stone and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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