00:00Major manufacturers around the country that we want to get in the defense game.
00:04When you can do commercial and you can do scale and you can do it well,
00:07we need you at the Department of War.
00:09And secondly, to underscore how important the generational investment
00:12in our $1.5 trillion budget is.
00:15The president's completely committed to it, and we believe between now and even
00:20before the election, but also through a lame duck, that we will get every dime of that.
00:24And the reason we've focused so much on it is this moment requires it.
00:29The nature of the threat around the world, the deferred maintenance previously,
00:32if you look under the hood, I don't know what the previous administration was actually doing.
00:35And so we're having to reinvest and restart the economic engine,
00:38the defense industrial base, at speed, at scale.
00:41Everything I talked about on that stage is real.
00:43It's a main effort.
00:45If we want to stay ahead of our adversaries, we've got to have companies like this one moving faster.
00:49We've got to open the aperture for even more companies.
00:52So thanks for coming out to Oshkosh as an example,
00:54and we'll be doing a lot more Arsenal Freedom events.
00:56I'll take a few questions.
00:56I had a question on Iran.
00:57Can you give us the lay of the land?
01:00What's our current posture right now with our overseas operations,
01:03and what do you hope this threat of economic sanctions will do to Iran?
01:06Well, it was great to see the Treasury Secretary today.
01:08We've been in full coordination with him on the economic fury
01:12and all the pressure that he can bring to bear,
01:14and we know that Iran can't handle it.
01:17Ultimately, their economy is in a spiral.
01:19They also know that we control the Strait of Hormuz,
01:21that our blockade is ironclad, and that oil is flowing through, ultimately.
01:26And you've seen some of the numbers.
01:28Iran can't run anything through.
01:29We can.
01:30The world economy realizes that.
01:32And so they made a big bet on controlling it, and they can't.
01:35The devastating things our military did to their navy and their ability to sense and see and radars and missiles,
01:41they still have some capabilities, but it's nowhere near what it was at all.
01:45And so we can protect the shipping going through the straits and allowing oil to flow.
01:51More economic pressure only ensures that Iran really has the only choice they have is to come to the table
01:58and actually talk about their nuclear program, which is what the president has demanded.
02:02Is it fair to say kinetic strikes are on a pause right now?
02:06No.
02:07If we need to use kinetic strikes, we'll use them.
02:09If Iran is foolish enough to overplay their hand or mess with the American military, we'll do what we need
02:17to do.
02:18But economic pressure, we know, hurts them the most right now.
02:22But by no means are we foreclosing using kinetic strikes anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz or around Iran.
02:29With munitions purchases being a top priority for you and the budget coming under pressure
02:34as Congress looks to do midterm elections and the balance of power may change,
02:38is it possible that you may choose to cut the amount of munitions purchases
02:42if you don't get the $1.5 billion, or is that sacred?
02:46I don't think so. It's pretty sacred.
02:47And we've cut a lot of these deals, as you've seen, five- to seven-year deals with companies
02:51who are now already investing, have made down payments of their own money on new plants and manufacturing.
02:56So this is not a nip around the margins of a few more weapons.
03:00This is a generational investment of 2x, 3x, 4x more munitions of the ones we know we're going to need
03:05and use.
03:06Those investments will be made.
03:07And, of course, the media has made a lot of false claims about a lot of things.
03:11We feel really good about where we are and about our ability to make sure we've got the munitions in
03:15the future.
03:16On Iran, the defense has announced a system added 60 movement in action over the last week.
03:22What can you tell us about attacks on human resources?
03:25I can tell you that databases play catch-up sometimes.
03:29We've been transparent about it the entire time.
03:31Do you have any message to the families of those that are on the carriers right now?
03:36I know you've seen a lot of her reporting.
03:39Sailors on the U.S. of Lincoln.
03:41Are you worried about other ships?
03:43To the sailors and families of the Lincoln, I say, Godspeed.
03:47On a historic mission, congratulations.
03:49You're on your way home.
03:50You've done epic things to secure the American people.
03:53And I've had a chance to talk to, in fact, one of the guys on the assembly line's son is
03:57coming home.
03:58He's on the Lincoln right now.
03:59And he affirmed what I've heard time and time again, which is they're really proud of what they've done.
04:04It's been a tough deployment.
04:05They haven't had as much port visits as anyone would like.
04:08It's been longer than most, but they've done incredible things in the harshest of environments against an enemy, a determined
04:16enemy,
04:16that will change the course of history for American security.
04:19So I look forward to greeting them.
04:20I appreciate the good faith focus that's existed, but the media has done a lot of bad faith focus also,
04:28trying to spin things or misrepresent things.
04:31The Lincoln's done incredible work, and we're very proud of them.
04:33The United States has two types of attack of weapons, unitary and cluster.
04:38The press reported that nearly all the attack of weapons were used.
04:42Did the United States use both military and cluster?
04:45Why would I answer?
04:46I mean, this is kind of a stupid question I would never answer.
04:48Like, why would I answer a question about whether we do or do not have certain types of munitions?
04:52I would tell you we have 110%.
04:54I would never answer that question.
04:57And the press is foolish to want to press.
05:00An American press is foolish to want to press an American War Department about where we may or may not
05:04be
05:04on classified and exquisite systems.
05:07I'll just tell you this.
05:08We had plenty when we needed it, and we have plenty now, and we'll have plenty when we'll need them
05:12in the future.
05:13Absolutely.
05:13Thank you very much.
05:14Appreciate you guys coming along.
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