Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new memo directing sweeping changes within the Army calls for merging the service’s modernization-focused Futures Command with Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), prioritizing acquisition reforms and adjusting force structures.
“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 writes in the memo.
The wide swath of initiatives are part of a new “comprehensive transformation strategy” for the Army that includes ending procurement of “outdated weapon systems,” with Army leaders confirming cuts will be made to programs such as Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Humvees, the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter and Gray Eagle drones (Defense Daily, May 1).
The merging of the Austin, Texas-based Futures Command, established in 2018 and now led by Gen. James Rainey, with TRADOC, led by Gen. Gary Brito and based at Fort Eustis in Virginia, is part of an effort to downsize, consolidate, or close redundant headquarters, according to the memo.
The two organizations will merge into a single command “aligns force generation, force design and force development under a single headquarters,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, wrote in a letter to the force on the transformation initiative.
It remains to be seen who will be at the helm of the new organization, as the directive is a major change for Futures Command, which has overseen requirements development for the service’s modernization efforts.
Hegseth in the memo also endorses the Army’s recent push to seek flexible funding authority that would allow it to move money within select capability areas rather than having funds tied to rigid budget line items allowing the Army to more rapidly procure promising technologies.
The Army secretary is directed to work with the Pentagon comptroller on the effort to “consolidate budget lines and shift from program-centric funding to capability-based funding across critical portfolios…to ensure rapid technology adaptation,” according to the memo.
“Agile funding, which shifts from program-centric to capability-based portfolios, will increase timely equipment fielding and accelerate innovation cycles. Adaptation is no longer an advantage — it’s a requirement for survival,” Driscoll and George said.
The flexible funding push has started with an initial focus on drones, C-UAS and electronic warfare as a “pilot program,” while Army Vice Chief Gen. Mingus said recently the strategy should eventually cover all technology that advances faster than the standard budget cycle (Defense Daily, April 22).
Additional acquisition reforms directed in the memo include expanding the Army’s use of Other Transaction Authority agreements “to enable faster prototyping and fielding of critical technologies,” including software, implementing performance-based contracting “to reduce waste,” and expanding multi-year procurement agreements “when cost effective.”
Hegseth has also directed the Army to merge headquarters “generate combat power capable of synchronizing kinetic and non-kinetic fires, spaced-based capabilities, and unmanned systems,” to divest outdated formations and to realign forces strategically “to optimize deterrence and rapid deployment, above all to defend the American homeland and deter China in the Indo-Pacific.”
“We’re cutting headquarters. We’re cutting some of the bloat, making sure that we get after the inefficiencies so we’re completely focused on buying war-winning technologies and that’s exactly what we need to do,” George said in a Fox News interview on Thursday.
The Army is also tasked with reducing and restructuring manned attack helicopter formations and augmenting such units with inexpensive drone swarms “capable of overwhelming adversaries.”
Driscoll and George, in their letter, specify there are plans to eliminate 1,000 staff positions at Headquarters Department of the Army, the service will reduce one Aerial Cavalry Squadron per Combat Aviation Brigade in the active component and will consolidate aviation sustainment requirements and all Infantry Brigade Combat Teams will be converted to the new Mobile Brigade Combat Teams.
“We are trading weight for speed, and mass for decisive force,” Driscoll and George wrote.
The Army has tested the Mobile BCT concept as part of its Transforming in Contact initiative, which included the GM Defense [GM] Infantry Squad Vehicle as a “centerpiece” capability “to move every infantry squad much faster and much lighter” (Defense Daily, May 9, 2024).
Additionally, the memo directs the Army to merge Forces Command with U.S. Army North and South “into a single Headquarters focused on homeland defense and partnership with our Western Hemisphere allies” and to consolidate and realign headquarters and units within Army Materiel Command, to include integrating Joint Munitions Command and Army Sustainment Command “to optimize operational efficiency and streamline support capabilities.”
