Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense and 2025 Wash100 Award winner, has in the last week announced sweeping changes to the U.S. Army in an effort to streamline and cut unnecessary programs and outdated systems. Hegseth calls the set of changes a “comprehensive transformation” and they come as the service branch looks to firm up its recruitment and prepare for competition with China over the next few years and beyond.
“I am directing the secretary of the Army to implement a comprehensive transformation strategy, streamline its force structure, eliminate wasteful spending, reform the acquisition process, modernize inefficient defense contracts, and overcome parochial interests to rebuild our Army, restore the warrior ethos, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth stated in an April 30 memo.
Many top Army leaders will address the government contracting community directly at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Army Summit on June 18. Notable guests such as Chief Information Officer Leonel Garciga and Emerging Technologies Office Director Robert Monto will share exclusive details on how industry can partner with the Army to help the service meet its new goals. Save your spot now!
What Are the Goals of Hegseth’s Comprehensive Transformation Strategy?
According to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, the three main goals of the strategy are to “deliver critical warfighting capabilities, optimize our force structure, and eliminate waste and obsolete programs.”
Warfighting Capabilities
The main technologies Hegseth is drawing attention to are long-range missiles, unmanned systems, counter-unmanned aerial systems and artificial intelligence-powered command and control devices. There are short turn-around timelines for all of these, expected to be developed and/or modernized and integrated into the forces (active, Reserve and National Guard) by 2026 or 2027.
Force Structure Optimization
Speaking of the various Army components, Hegseth’s memo said the service will shrink, diminish or outright extinguish various headquarters that it deems redundant. It is also combining Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command into one unit, as well as dissolve formations that are considered past their expiration date.
Army Program Waste Elimination
Under the new strategy, Hegseth has ordered antiquated weapon systems to cease sustainment activities and for various climate-conscious practices to end. Scrubbing waste from budgets also reportedly means phasing out or stopping struggling and aged programs like manned aircraft, ground vehicles and older models of unmanned aircraft.
How Army’s Comprehensive Transformation Will Affect GovCons
Government contractors take note: Hegseth’s orders were riddled with references to acquisition and procurement. He signaled that the whole acquisition process needs reworking, but he homed in specifically on right to repair provisions. These stipulations give the government “the ability to conduct maintenance and access to appropriate maintenance tools, software and technical data while preserving the intellectual capital of the American industry,” per the Department of Defense.
The Pentagon stated that the Army intends to guarantee the right to repair in all of its contracts going forward.
Further, the procurement of archaic tech should end, according to Hegseth, and performance-based contracting ought to be emphasized. Multi-year procurement arrangements are also meant to be renewed and extended when it makes financial sense.
The 2025 Army Summit will explore topics like modular open systems approach—a.k.a. MOSA—maximizing efficiency, agentic AI and much more. Register now to join this fast-paced GovCon networking event on June 18 at the Hilton McLean in Virginia.
