U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum to the senior Pentagon leadership on April 30, 2025, titled “Army Transformation and Acquisition Reform.” The memorandum stated that the President has assigned a clear mission: to achieve peace through strength. To achieve this, the U.S. Army must prioritize the deterrence of China and the defense of the homeland in the Indo-Pacific region. Soldiers who are physically and morally resilient, rigorously trained, and equipped with the most advanced technology available are necessary to deter war—and, if necessary, prevail—on a battlefield that is swiftly evolving.
The Army must undergo a rapid transformation to establish a more lethal and efficient force. This will involve the elimination of outdated, redundant, and ineffectual programs, as well as the restructuring of headquarters and acquisition systems. Concurrently, the Army must prioritize investments that are consistent with the administration’s strategy, ensuring that existing resources are allocated to the improvement of long-range precision fires, air and missile defense (including the implementation of a “Golden Dome for America”), cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-space capabilities.
To rebuild the U.S. Army, restore the warrior spirit, and reestablish deterrence, the President directed the Secretary of the Army to implement a comprehensive transformation strategy, optimize force structure, eliminate wasteful spending, reform the acquisition process, modernize outdated defense contracts, and overcome parochial interests.
Army Transformation: Preparing for Tomorrow’s Conflict
The Secretary of the Army is instructed to expedite the delivery of war-winning capabilities by:
By 2027, deploy long-range missiles that are capable of striking both moving ground and maritime targets.
By 2027, achieve electromagnetic and air-littoral dominance.
By the conclusion of 2026, implement unmanned systems (UMS) and ground/air-based platforms in each division.
Enhance the mobility and accessibility of counter-UAS capabilities by incorporating them into maneuver platoons by 2026 and maneuver companies by 2027.
By 2027, provide AI-enabled command and control to the headquarters of the theater, corps, and division.
By 2026, expand operational divisions to incorporate advanced manufacturing, such as additive production and 3D printing.
Modernize the organic industrial base to construct wartime munitions stockpiles by integrating 21st-century manufacturing capabilities to achieve full operational capability by 2028.
Enhance strategic access, basing, and overflight with allies and partners by pre-positioning stockpiles, rotational deployments, and joint exercises to expand the Army’s forward presence in the Indo-Pacific.
Eliminating Obsolete Equipment and Wasteful Programs
The Secretary of the Army shall, in accordance with law and policy, maximize efficiency, accelerate modernization, and fund Army transformation within existing resources.
Cease the procurement of obsolete systems and reduce or terminate ineffective or redundant programs, such as outdated drones, excess ground vehicles (e.g., HMMWVs), and manned aircraft.
Reduce expenditures on obsolete weapons, legacy support systems, and superfluous climate-related initiatives;
Eliminate redundant travel budgets and unnecessary contracts.
Reassess and optimize the munitions stockpiles at Army depots in accordance with strategic requirements.
Modernize language training programs to enhance the efficacy of missions.
Workforce Optimization and Force Structure
To guarantee strategic readiness, efficacy, and modernization, the Secretary of the Army shall:
To reorganize the Army’s force structure:
To generate combat power capable of synchronizing kinetic and non-kinetic projectiles, space-based capabilities, and unmanned systems, consolidate headquarters.
Supplement manned attack helicopter formations with low-cost drone swarms to overwhelm adversaries, thereby reducing and reorganizing them;
Disband obsolete formations, including standalone armored and aviation units, in the active Army, Reserve, and National Guard.
To optimize deterrence and rapid deployment, strategically reposition forces, with a primary concentration on homeland defense and deterrence of China in the Indo-Pacific.
Consolidate, reduce, or eliminate redundant headquarters:
Form a singular command by merging Army Futures Command (AFC) and Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).
Consolidate the U.S. Army North and South into a single, unified headquarters that is dedicated to homeland defense and partnerships throughout the Western Hemisphere.
To improve operational efficiency and consolidate support capabilities, the Army sustainment enterprise should be restructured by consolidating and redistributing Army Materiel Command headquarters and units, integrating the Joint Munitions Command and Army Sustainment Command.
Consolidate and evaluate operations at specific depots, arsenals, and facilities, and pursue leasing opportunities from commercial entities that are expanding into the defense industrial base.
Modernizing and Reducing the Workforce
Maximize readiness by optimizing the force structure;
Prioritize the development of battlefield-relevant talents and merit among both military and civilian personnel.
Revise civilian hiring and firing policies to facilitate the administration of skilled talent.
Simplify combat command structures by decreasing the number of general officer billets.
Budget Optimization and Acquisition Reform
To expedite modernization and enhance acquisition efficiency, the Secretary of the Army is instructed to collaborate with the OSD Comptroller to consolidate budget lines and transition from program-based to capability-based funding in critical portfolios (e.g., drones, counter-UAS, electronic warfare) to facilitate rapid technological adaptation.
Identify and suggest contract modifications to include right-to-repair provisions in cases where Army maintenance or access to technical tools, software, and data is impeded by intellectual property restrictions, while simultaneously preserving the intellectual capital of the U.S. industry. It is our objective to incorporate right-to-repair provisions into all current and future contracts.
Increase the utilization of Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements to facilitate the rapid prototyping and adoption of critical technologies, such as software and software-defined systems.
Enhance the efficacy of contracting processes:
Reduce waste by implementing performance-based contracts.
The traditional methods of warfare are no longer effective.
On May 1, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Randy George informed reporters that the Army is converting certain National Guard armored brigade combat teams into mobile brigade combat teams, which will increase their adaptability for missions both domestically and internationally.
Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll stated during a joint appearance with George on May 1 that the traditional methods of warfare are no longer effective, as a result of the conflict in Ukraine over the past few years.
According to Driscoll, the U.S. Army has been granted the authority to implement substantial changes and reallocate resources in order to optimize soldier lethality by President Trump and Secretary of Defense Hegseth.
The official described these as challenging decisions that involve long-standing legacy systems that have substantial institutional momentum and lobbying support. Driscoll observed that the current leadership and chain of command have conferred the requisite authority to pursue the reforms that military leaders deem appropriate, despite the obstacles posed by entrenched interests and existing bureaucratic structures.
George observed that the issue is not innovation itself; soldiers have been innovating for years, particularly under the “Transformation in Contact” initiative that was introduced in early 2024. The initiative expedites the procurement of Army capabilities and the design of the force by introducing new technology into units and enabling experimentation during deployments and exercises.
Over the past year, Transformation in Contact 1.0 has converted three brigades into mobile or light BCTs. The Army is currently expanding the initiative to encompass armored formations, support units, National Guard elements, multi-domain task forces, and technologies such as autonomy.
George, who spoke alongside Driscoll, stated that the Army is currently modifying formations, which is a result of the innovation that is taking place at the soldier level. Within a single brigade combat team, the service has implemented exercises that have involved the integration of more than 200 drones.
George acknowledged that military leadership is actively monitoring developments and acknowledges the need for change. However, he emphasized that the tempo of adaptation remains insufficient. The official admitted that the recognition of the essential modifications and the speed of their implementation are at odds, so these changes must be expedited.
George cited the “re-fight” exercise conducted by the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division in January, which utilized a greater number of drones than any previous simulation.
The Army’s second-highest-ranking officer stated that the service intends to finalize updated designs for the appearance of mobile and light brigades in accordance with the transformation efforts, which are anticipated to occur in the near future.
Officials underscored the necessity of additional experimentation, as the optimal combination of drone capabilities remains uncertain.
Hegseth Provides the Army with a Lengthy To-Do List
The memo dated April 30 delineates the timelines for the delivery of armaments and technology, as well as the orders for unit and organizational optimization.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a comprehensive list of directives to the Army on May 1, which included deadlines for the fielding of new weapons and technologies, orders to divest outmoded equipment, and instructions to consolidate future and doctrinal force organizations.
Many of the actions in the memo are already being considered by the Army, according to a Pentagon spokesperson who spoke with Defense One. However, the memo now offers explicit prioritization guidance.
The memo recommends the discontinuation of obsolete equipment and the gradual phase-out of wasteful programs. It explicitly refers to the Humvee, which the Army will begin replacing in BCTs this year with a new Infantry Squad Vehicle.
According to the Pentagon official, the Army does not intend to deploy its fleet of approximately 100,000 antiquated ground vehicles in future conflicts.
To supplant the M113 APC, the Army also initiated the acquisition of an Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle in 2019. However, the official derided a specific tracked vehicle as “a box with tracks” and suggested that its mission could be achieved using autonomous vehicles, which is the Army’s preferred approach.
Some armored and aviation units will also be reduced in size, particularly those that operate AH-64D Apache helicopters, which are more expensive to maintain and less readily available than the more recent AH-64Es.
The official announced that no further systems would be acquired and that the plan is to progressively phase them out and convert specific formations into the necessary configurations.
A singular homeland defense-focused entity will be formed by merging the Army’s North and South commands. The Materiel Command will incorporate the Army Sustainment Command and Joint Munitions Command. The Army Futures Command will be dissolved as a four-star headquarters and reassigned to TRADOC, where the majority of its responsibilities were previously located prior to its establishment in Austin, Texas.
For years, this proposal has been discussed within the Army, as Futures Command has encountered difficulties in fulfilling its modernization mission.
According to a Department of Defense official, personnel could be redirected back into combat roles to establish the requisite combat power at the correct echelons, rather than funding multiple general officers’ residences or sustaining oversized headquarters.
The official proposed reallocating resources from administrative structures to operational capabilities, signifying potential inefficiencies in the current force structure and resource allocation within military organizations.