Echoes of WWII as Pentagon Calls GM & Ford to Build Weapons
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Senior Pentagon officials recently sat down with GM CEO Mary Barra and Ford CEO Jim Farley to discuss shifting auto factory capacity toward munitions and military equipment.
The timing is no coincidence. The recent Iran conflict exposed critical weaknesses in America’s defense industrial base. Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired at nine times the annual procurement rate. Every PrSM (Precision Strike Missile) in inventory was expended. Patriot interceptors were depleted across the region. Just six weeks of high-intensity war overwhelmed a system built for peacetime deterrence.
This marks the first time since World War II that the Pentagon has turned to America’s automakers for weapons production on this scale. During WWII, Detroit halted car production and built bombers. During COVID, GM and Ford made ventilators. Now, the Pentagon wants to know if they can tool up for missiles and military hardware.
GE Aerospace and Oshkosh are also in discussions. The push comes alongside the largest defense budget request in modern history, $1.5 trillion, with heavy emphasis on ramping up munitions and drone manufacturing.
As these massive opportunities emerge, lawmakers are typically quick to spot investment potential. Checking recent Capitol Trades data shows several members of Congress have already been positioning portfolios in companies tied to the defense surge. For example:
Rep. Michael McCaul (House Foreign Affairs Committee) added to GE Aerospace and Woodward Inc. positions in early 2025, with strong gains since.
Sen. Ashley Brooke Moody made sizable early bets on Howmet Aerospace (key for aircraft and missile components).
Rep. Gilbert Cisneros has been one of the most active buyers, snapping up Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris, RTX, Boeing, Honeywell, and Palantir in recent months.
While direct trades in GM and Ford themselves have been lighter (with a mix of buys like Rep. Tim Moore’s earlier Ford positions and sells by others like Ro Khanna), the broader pattern is clear: when the Pentagon signals a major industrial mobilization or budget expansion, politically connected investors on Capitol Hill often move first.
The Trump administration has signaled the current conflict may be winding down, yet the Pentagon is already planning for the next one. Traditional defense contractors cannot scale production fast enough. The auto industry’s expertise in high-volume assembly lines is seen as the solution. This isn’t just about filling current gaps, it’s about rebuilding America’s industrial base for great-power competition.
