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On September 19, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement made a $61,218 cost for “guided missile warheads and explosive elements,” based on the Product and Service Code (PSC) included within the cost report on a federal contracting database.
“This award offers a number of distraction units to help legislation enforcement operations and ICE- Workplace of Firearms and Tactical Applications,” the report’s description part reads.
The Substack Well-liked Data talked about this cost in a Monday article, which centered 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 intervals Well-liked Data measured.) Phrase of the cost additionally circulated on Tuesday after a submit 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 stated warheads within the federal cost data, doesn’t promote any explosive units. (It sells a wide range of firearms, switchblades, and weapon equipment.) David Hensley, founder and CEO of Quantico Tactical, advised WIRED in an e mail that the PSC “seems to be an error.”
“Quantico Tactical doesn’t promote, and I think that CBP ICE doesn’t buy, ‘Guided Missile Warheads,’” Hensley stated, referencing Customs and Border Safety. He added that the remainder of the cost report seems to be right.
PSCs are assigned by a authorities company’s contracting workplace, not the personal contractor. Hensley declined to invest on what the proper PSC for the cost could also be. He additionally declined to make clear which “distraction units” ICE bought. Nonetheless, ICE made two different funds to Quantico Tactical for “distraction units” in September 2024 and August 2025.
The descriptions for each cost data declare that they’re for coaching applications run by ICE’s Workplace of Firearms and Tactical Applications (OFTP). Each funds data use the PSC for “chemical weapons and tools,” which consists of gadgets like “flame throwers” and “smoke mills.”
An ICE “Firearms and Use of Pressure” handbook from 2021 doesn’t point out any authorised use of flame throwers, nevertheless it does point out using “chemical munitions” comparable to smoke, pepper spray, and tear gasoline. (It notes that their use have to be authorised by the company’s affiliate director and the OFTP.) Quantico Tactical doesn’t checklist smoke bombs, pepper spray, or tear gasoline on the market on its web site, although it does checklist equipment like smoke-resistant goggles and holders for mace, flash grenades, and smoke bombs. It’s unclear what ICE could have bought.
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