On September 19, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement made a $61,218 fee for “guided missile warheads and explosive elements,” based on the Product and Service Code (PSC) included within the payment record on a federal contracting database.
“This award gives a number of distraction units to help regulation enforcement operations and ICE- Workplace of Firearms and Tactical Applications,” the file’s description part reads.
The Substack In style Info mentioned this fee in a Monday article, which targeted on the truth that ICE spending within the “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance equipment manufacturing” product class elevated by 700 % between 2024 and 2025. (Spending elevated by about 636 %, per WIRED’s evaluation of the identical class and time durations In style Info measured.) Phrase of the fee additionally circulated on Tuesday after a publish on BlueSky by Democratic Wisconsin state senator Chris Larson went viral.
It seems, concern over ICE brokers planning to make use of warheads is probably going based mostly on a mistake. Quantico Tactical, the corporate listed because the provider of mentioned warheads within the federal fee information, doesn’t promote any explosive units. (It sells quite a lot of firearms, switchblades, and weapon equipment.) David Hensley, founder and CEO of Quantico Tactical, informed WIRED in an e-mail that the PSC “seems to be an error.”
“Quantico Tactical doesn’t promote, and I believe that CBP ICE doesn’t buy, ‘Guided Missile Warheads,’” Hensley mentioned, referencing Customs and Border Safety. He added that the remainder of the fee file seems to be appropriate.
PSCs are assigned by a authorities company’s contracting workplace, not the non-public contractor. Hensley declined to take a position on what the right PSC for the fee could also be. He additionally declined to make clear which “distraction units” ICE bought. Nonetheless, ICE made two different payments to Quantico Tactical for “distraction units” in September 2024 and August 2025.
The descriptions for each fee information declare that they’re for coaching packages run by ICE’s Workplace of Firearms and Tactical Applications (OFTP). Each funds information use the PSC for “chemical weapons and gear,” which includes objects like “flame throwers” and “smoke turbines.”
An ICE “Firearms and Use of Pressure” handbook from 2021 doesn’t point out any authorized use of flame throwers, but it surely does point out using “chemical munitions” corresponding to smoke, pepper spray, and tear gasoline. (It notes that their use have to be authorized by the company’s affiliate director and the OFTP.) Quantico Tactical doesn’t record smoke bombs, pepper spray, or tear gasoline on the market on its web site, although it does record equipment like smoke-resistant goggles and holders for mace, flash grenades, and smoke bombs. It’s unclear what ICE could have bought.
