Army pushing to expand missile industrial base with Project Strike

The Army plans to expand the missile industrial base to more nontraditional vendors and establish a more consistent demand signal through a new initiative known as Project Strike, an official from the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires said today. Project Strike will be a “plan for rapid and accelerated rocket and missile market space expansion and production capacity output,” according to slides presented to attendees of the annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, AL Thursday morning. According to the slides, Project Strike will revolve around the principles of: A strategic Army plan to buy munitions differently Requested authority to shift funding to priorities Expanding the market space with nontraditional partners Persistent competition through consistent demand signaling Brig. Gen. Robert Mikesh, the capability program executive for offensive fires within PAE Fires, explained to attendees that Project Strike will attempt to expand the market for missiles to “companies that may never have thought of themselves as part of the missile industrial base.” “Industry repeatedly tells government that predictability matters. And they’re right. If we tell a company we need a large quantity one year, almost nothing the next year, and then suddenly require a massive surge, we should not be surprised when the capacity's not there. Manufacturing capacity requires investment, facilities, machines, people, training, long-lead items. It takes capital,” he said. Mikesh added Project Strike will demand new propulsion approaches, manufacturing techniques and business models from industry. “We should be asking, who’s not in the room today who could solve one of our hardest problems tomorrow? And then we need to leverage acquisition strategies that allow companies to participate,” he said. Mikesh did not offer more specific details about Project Strike beyond this broad framework, and a PAE Fires spokesman told Inside Defense today that the details have not been made public. However, the informal revelation today about this missile production push comes amidst discussion of how the ongoing military campaign in Iran has depleted U.S. missile and munition stocks. Concerns over the munitions shortfalls have prompted the Pentagon to ask Congress for $18.2 billion for rapid expansion of critical missile systems as part of the larger $95 billion reconciliation package, of which $60 billion would be for defense. Additionally, Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg sent a memo earlier this month to industry leaders, calling on them to rapidly accelerate production of 16 weapon systems in preparation for increased procurement in fiscal year 2028.