War Secretary Pete Hegseth encouraged employees of the military’s largest defense contractor on Monday to “step up” amid a push by President Trump to ramp up Pentagon spending to send “a message to the world.”
“We’re changing the game to incentivize speed, to incentivize efficiency, competition, open architecture, at cost, ensuring that big companies, like this one, and small ones can compete,” Hegseth told workers at Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet production plant in Fort Worth, Texas.
The war secretary’s remarks – part of his “Arsenal of Freedom” tour – come the week after Trump paired his request for a record $1.5 trillion in military spending with stinging criticism of defense contractors over CEO pay, stock dividends and purportedly being slow to fill orders.
“The president had put out an executive order just a couple of days ago about how big defense contractors in this country need to step up,” Hegseth noted. “And he’s right.”
“I think and I know and I believe that Lockheed will step up,” the Pentagon chief predicted.
Hegseth explained that speed and efficiency in coming up with an “85% solution” rather than taking decades to find the “perfect solution” is part of what’s needed from defense contractors in order for the US to “outcompete our adversaries.”
He framed Trump’s 2027 budget goal as a form a deterrent to US adversaries.
“That is a message to the world,” Hegseth said.
A $1.5 trillion defense budget would allow the US to build “the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president suggested that tariff revenue would help pay for his proposed 66% hike in military spending.
“If it weren’t for the tremendous numbers being produced by Tariffs from other Countries, many of which, in the past, have ‘ripped off’ the United States at levels never seen before, I would stay at the $1 Trillion Dollar,” Trump wrote.
In a separate post, Trump warned defense contractors to stop issuing dividends to investors and to cap executive pay at $5 million.
Later, Trump singled out Lockheed Martin rival Raytheon, whose CEO Christopher Calio earned more than $21 million in 2024, for being “the slowest” to fill orders.
“Raytheon seems to think this is the Biden Administration, and this is ‘business as usual,’ IT’S NOT!,” the president fumed.
As part of his tour, Hegseth is scheduled to speak to SpaceX employees in Brownsville, Texas later on Monday and will be introduced by SpaceX CEO and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk.
