US to streamline Pentagon’s weapons acquisition amid global threats
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A Lockheed Martin video presentation during the Association of the United States Army annual meeting and exposition in Washington in October 2024.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth is expected to unveil sweeping changes to how the Pentagon purchases weapons on Nov 7, allowing the military to more rapidly acquire technology amid growing global threats.
Mr Hegseth plans to address industry leaders, military commanders and officials at the National War College. There, he will detail the transformation of the Defence Acquisition System in accordance with an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in April
The reforms target what Pentagon officials call “unacceptably slow” procurement, which they blame on fragmented accountability and misaligned incentives that have hampered the military’s ability to field new technology quickly.
Legacy defence contractors like Lockheed Martin and RTX are expected to attend alongside newer defence entrants like Palantir Technologies, Ursa Major Technologies, maritime drone maker Saronic and electronic warfare company Epirus.
The restructuring creates Portfolio Acquisition Executives who will have direct authority over major weapons programmes to eliminate bureaucracy.
The acquisition chain will run directly from programme managers to these portfolio executives to military service branch acquisition leaders, with no intermediate approval layers.
The reforms require at least two qualified sources for critical programme content through initial production.
This is the latest in a series of reforms. Earlier in 2025, the Pentagon changed how it purchased software.
Commercial products will become the default acquisition approach, streamlining the solicitation process, the memo says.
The changes also call for time-indexed contract incentives that reward early delivery and penalise delays proportionally.
The Under-Secretary of Defence for Acquisition and Sustainment, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, will chair monthly Acquisition Acceleration Reviews to track implementation, remove barriers and monitor defence industrial base competition. REUTERS
