No, ICE did not (probably) purchase the guided missile warheads
On September 19, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement paid $61,218 for “missile warheads and explosive components,” according to the product and service code (PSC) in payment records in the federal contracts database.
The record description reads: “This award provides multiple distraction devices to support law enforcement operations and ICE- Office of Fire Arms and Tactical Programs.”
Substack Popular Information noted the payment in an article Monday that focused on the fact that ICE spending in the product category “Manufacturing small arms, ammunition and ammunition accessories” increased 700 percent between 2024 and 2025. (Costs are up about 636 percent.) It went viral Tuesday after Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Chris Larson’s BlueSky post.
It turns out, concerns about ICE agents planning to use warheads may be misplaced. Quantico Tactical, the company listed as the supplier of the warheads in federal filings, does not sell any explosive devices. (It sells a variety of firearms, switchblades and weapon accessories.) David Hensley, founder and CEO of Quantico Tactical, told WIRED in an email that the PSC “appears to be a mistake.”
“Quantico Tactical doesn’t sell, and I suspect CBP doesn’t buy ICE ‘guided missile warheads,'” Hensley said, referring to Customs and Border Protection. He added that the rest of the payment records appear to be correct.
PSCs are determined by the contracting office of a government agency, not a private contractor. Hensley declined to speculate on what the correct PSC might be to pay. He also declined to say which “distraction devices” ICE had purchased. However, ICE made two more payments to Quantico Tactical for “distraction devices” in September 2024 and August 2025.
The description for both payment records claims they are for training programs run by ICE’s Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs (OFTP). Both payment records use the PSC for “chemical weapons and equipment,” which includes items such as “flame throwers” and “smoke generators.”
ICE’s “Weapons and Use of Force” manual from 2021 does not list any approved use of flamethrowers, but does mention the use of “chemical munitions” such as smoke, pepper spray and tear gas. (It explains that their use must be approved by the deputy agency and OFTP.) Quantico Tactical does not list smoke bombs, pepper spray or tear gas for sale on its website, although it does list accessories such as smoke-resistant goggles and baton holders, flash grenades and smoke bombs. It is unclear what ICE may have purchased.
