Trump’s defence chief wants streamlined army focused on advanced weapons

WASHINGTON – US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wants the army to shed outdated weapons and vehicles and increase its use of drones as part of a broad overhaul of the military’s largest service.

In a directive signed on April 30 and released on May 1, the Pentagon chief ordered the army to “end procurement of obsolete systems, and cancel or scale back ineffective or redundant programmes” including manned aircraft, excess ground vehicles and what it said were outdated unmanned aerial vehicles.

US defence officials have pointed to the war in Ukraine as instructive, citing Ukrainians’ reliance on drones and constant innovation to counter Russia.

US President Donald Trump and advisers including Mr Elon Musk have called on the US to rely more on unmanned aircraft, and even the newly announced F-47 stealth fighter jet is intended to operate in tandem with drones.

Defence Innovation Unit Director Doug Beck told lawmakers on May 1 that the Pentagon struggles to keep pace with China, which dominates the market for commercial drones and parts, while Ukraine has been producing thousands of drones per day.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, appearing on Fox News alongside General Randy George, the army chief of staff, said the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that “the old way of doing war will no longer suffice”.

Mr Trump and Mr Hegseth expect army leaders “to go make the hard decisions and the hard changes to reallocate our dollars to best position our soldiers to be the most lethal that they can be”, they said.

Many of the proposed changes align with those pursued under Mr Trump’s first term and the Biden administration, including a focus on long-range precision fires and developing counter-drone capabilities.

Mr Hegseth, who has spoken frequently about the need to trim “fat” from headquarters and focus resources on war-fighting, ordered the consolidation of several commands, including one established under the first Trump administration.

The secretary has complained that the US military is top-heavy, and the consolidation effort could reduce the number of senior officers.

M-10 cancelled

The army is also moving to scrap purchases made during the previous administration.

Mr Driscoll said his first major acquisition decision was cancelling the Biden-era M-10 “Booker” light tank that has turned out too heavy for many of its intended missions, including airdrop.

“We made a mistake,” he told reporters on May 1.

“What came out of our procurement system wasn’t good,” he said, adding that the army will  “learn from this bad process that got us to this bad outcome”.

General Dynamics Corp was awarded a US$1.14 billion (S$1.49 billion) contract in June 2022 for the production and fielding of up to 96 M-10 systems, and the first delivery was made in February 2024.

Each early-production version is expected to cost about US$12.8 million, according to the Congressional Research Service. BLOOMBERG