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10 Apr 25. Hegseth Announces Additional $5.1bn in DOD Spending Cuts. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum today announcing the cutting of $5.1bn in wasteful Defense Department contracts.
“That’s with a ‘B’; $5.1bn in DOD contracts for ancillary things like consulting and other nonessential services,” Hegseth said while recording a video of the announcement from his office.
The memo lists some of the cuts, including $1.8 billion in consulting contracts the Defense Health Agency awarded to various private sector firms, a $1.4 billion enterprise cloud IT services contract awarded to a software reseller, and a $500 million Navy contract for business process consulting.
“We need this money to spend on better health care for our warfighters and their families, instead of $500 an hour business process consultant,” Hegseth said. “That’s a lot of consulting.”
He also mentioned cutting a $500 million contract awarded to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for IT help desk services that are “completely duplicative” of services that the Defense Information Systems Agency already provides.
Additionally, Hegseth said the department is cutting 11 contracts related to diversity, equity and inclusion, climate change, the department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related nonessential activities across DOD.
“We are committed to rooting out DEI — root and branch — throughout this department … I’m going to keep looking,” Hegseth said.
He also announced cuts on the academic front, saying that DOD would be pausing over $500 million in funding to a pair of universities that “tolerate antisemitism and support divisive DEI programs.” This is in addition to the $70 million already cut in funding at three other colleges in the past weeks.
Today’s announcement follows Hegseth’s initial March 20, 2025, announcement that the department would be cutting $580 million in programs, contracts and grants.
“If you’re keeping score at home, today’s cuts bring our running total to nearly $6 billion in wasteful spending over the first six weeks of the Department of Government Efficiency effort here at the Defense Department,” Hegseth said, adding that DOGE’s job is to find wasteful spending at DOD so that the funds can be driven back into the department’s warfighting capabilities.
Hegseth first announced that DOGE would be working within DOD during a recorded, on-camera address he made Feb. 20, 2025, regarding cutting excess and refocusing the department’s budget.
The secretary wound down today’s message by thanking DOGE and the people who unpacked and revealed the latest round of savings.
“We’re excited to make these cuts on behalf of you, the taxpayer and the warfighters here at the department,” he said. (Source: U.S. DoD)
09 Apr 25. Socom: Changing Operational Demands Requires Acquisition Changes. Worldwide threats put the U.S. at risk and sometimes demand attention from U.S. Special Operations Command. To best meet those challenges, U.S. military acquisition needs to change, said Army Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, Socom commander.
“The character of war is changing faster than we’ve ever seen,” he said today before the House Armed Services Committee’s intelligence and special operations subcommittee.
“The innovation cycle now turns in days and weeks, not months and years. Our adversaries use $10,000 one-way drones that we shoot down with $2 m missiles — that cost-benefit curve is upside down,” he said.
Fenton noted that this is the most complex asymmetric and hybrid threat security environment he has seen during his 38 years of service. Contending with these challenges demands more from special operations forces.
“[It] requires tough choices, forcing trade-offs, as we strive to balance an increase in operations readiness and the need for modernization,” he said.
Fenton explained that over the past two years, for example, demand for Socom capabilities by combatant commands has increased by more than 35%, while at the same time, Socom has dealt with years of flat budgets.
To meet the demands of increased mission requirements and increasingly complex missions, he said Socom needs to improve its acquisition process.
“Our current acquisition procurement system … I would just offer, it’s outdated,” he said. “It’s glacial. I think it works in years and decades.”
He added that the lessons learned from the conflict in Ukraine made it clear how the U.S. military acquisition process can be changed for the better.
“What we’re seeing through the lens of Ukraine needs to be an acquisition … and procurement system that is hyper-speed, supersonic,” he said. “Because over there, we’re watching the changes in minutes, hours and days, and that is a very stark contrast” to what the U.S. does.
Fenton said changes to the requirements process, including simplifying it, as well as changes to authorities, could help Socom quickly get what it needs.
“If I could say it so bluntly, take more people out of that system, get less hands on the requirements process,” he told lawmakers. “Go from operator to commander and then acquisition.”
Fenton also suggested how changes in funding could benefit acquisition within Socom.
Funding for systems comes in the form of operations and maintenance funds; research, development, testing and engineering funds; and procurement funds. The Defense Department can’t easily move money between those budget lines, and that could be simplified, he said.
“I think there’s a way to take a lot of that off, compress the multiple lines to just a couple, and really modernize there,” Fenton said.
The general also asked for greater flexibility in how the department contracts new systems, particularly the option to increase the length of multiyear procurements.
“Give us an opportunity to think through multiyear processes,” he said. “Two years might seem multiyear, I think, to all of us. Multiyear probably needs to be five to 10 years so we can move at the speed and evolution of what we’re seeing out on the battlefield.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
09 Apr 25. Supply Chain, Workforce, Advanced Manufacturing Will Help Navy Get Ships Faster. The Navy wants to be able to build one Columbia-class and two Virginia-class submarines a year and eventually expand that to 2.33 Virginia-class subs a year. At the same time, the Navy is working on getting more Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers into the fleet. During a hearing yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s seapower subcommittee, Navy leaders explained that the industrial base that manufactures those platforms will need a boost to begin production.
“The maritime industrial base program is leading efforts to reinvigorate the industrial base in order to expand shipbuilding capacity,” said Matthew D. Sermon, the direct reporting program manager for the Navy’s maritime industrial base program.
Sermon said getting things moving will include systematically expanding and reinforcing supply chain capacity, addressing workforce challenges and adopting advanced manufacturing capabilities.
“To do all of this, the Navy is working closely with our industrial base partners and has launched nearly 1,200 supplier development, workforce and advanced manufacturing projects in 40 states … all of them focused on supporting businesses, improving throughput, and updating antiquated tooling and production processes,” Sermon said.
Since 2018, the Navy has expanded parts delivery for submarines by more than 250%, but Sermon said this must double to meet the current needs of the nuclear Navy.
He added that in 2024, the Navy also supported industry efforts to recruit, train and retain over 12,600 employees as part of an effort to address labor shortages in skilled trades and naval engineering fields. And when it comes to advanced manufacturing, he pointed to the Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Danville, Virginia.
” already printed more than 270 parts, and this year, will partner with the advanced manufacturing industry to mitigate over 1,000 days of delay in parts availability,” he told senators. “These efforts are on track to revolutionize critical parts procurement with the ability to print thousands of parts quickly and with unprecedented quality.”
Efforts to strengthen the industrial base will, in turn, strengthen the Navy, including delivery of the Columbia-class SSBN, which is the top priority for the Navy right now, said Navy Rear Adm. Todd S. Weeks, the Navy’s program executive officer for strategic submarines.
“The Columbia-class is the Navy’s No. 1 acquisition priority and a critical once-in-a-generation recapitalization effort for this foundational leg of the nation’s nuclear triad,” he said. “The current Ohio-class SSBN force is reaching the end of its operational life and must be replaced to meet U.S. Strategic Command operational requirements.”
While delays are expected in the delivery of the USS District of Columbia, the lead ship for the Columbia-class, Weeks said the USS Wisconsin, the second ship in the class, is expected to deliver on time.
“We have seen positive continued performance and productivity improvements over the lead ship,” he said. “Wisconsin is approximately 5% ahead of where the lead ship was at the same point in time during her construction.”
Weeks also said early procurement and construction activities are underway for the next five Columbia-class SSBNs, the largest, most powerful and most advanced submarine the U.S. has ever designed.
Navy Rear Adm. Jonathan E. Rucker, the Navy’s program executive officer for attack submarines, told lawmakers the Navy has already taken delivery of 24 Virginia-class attack SSBNs, while an additional 14 are under construction now.
He said the Navy took delivery of the USS New Jersey and USS Iowa last year, for instance, and it is tracking the delivery of the USS Massachusetts and USS Idaho this year.
However, Rucker said delivery is not as fast as it needs to be.
“Our 2024 annual production rate of Virginia-class submarines per year was 1.13 compared to our need of 2.0,” he said. “The main causes for this are workforce challenges, material and supplier delays and shipbuilder facilities and infrastructure issues — all of which are driving cost increases and schedule delays.”
The Navy and industry, he said, are working together to address those challenges.
Navy Rear Adm. Casey J. Moton, the Navy’s program executive officer for aircraft carriers, told lawmakers the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, is getting ready to deploy on its second mission. It recently returned from its first mission, which included providing response support after the Hamas attack on Israel.
“Our future Ford-class aircraft carriers are under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding , where we continue working closely with the shipbuilder to address challenges and improve performance,” he said.
Right now, the Ford remains the only ship in its class, but Moton said the next delivery will be the USS John F. Kennedy, which is 95% complete.
However, he added that delivery is “pressurized by remaining critical path work,” including work on advanced weapons elevators and aircraft launch and recovery equipment.
Two other Ford-class ships under construction now include the USS Enterprise and the USS Doris Miller. Those vessels are benefitting from a shipyard innovation that allows them to be built concurrently in the same drydock. (Source: U.S. DoD)
09 Apr 25. Senior Leaders Say Special Ops Community Aligned With Joint DOD Mission. During a posture hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday, the two most senior leaders from the U.S. military’s special warfare community explained how the special operations force’s mission aligns with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s overall priorities for the joint force. Colby Jenkins, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, and Army Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, explained the community’s priorities while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Jenkins told the committee that special operations remain at the forefront of the nation’s strategic priorities. Tasked with the most challenging and dangerous missions, SOF is the world’s most lethal, adaptable and capable force.
“Our priorities for the SOF enterprise are squarely nested with Secretary Hegseth’s priorities for the joint force: defend the homeland, strengthen deterrence and increase burden sharing with U.S allies and partners,” he added.
In his Jan. 25, 2025, message to the force, Hegseth listed reestablishing deterrence by defending the homeland and working with allies and partners to deter aggression as one of his three primary pillars for DOD to focus on going forward. The other two are restoring the warrior ethos and rebuilding the military.
“Our elite warriors deter adversaries by creating strategic asymmetric advantages and maintaining irregular warfare superiority, leveraging our close relationships with our foreign partners in critical regions,” Jenkins said.
He explained that irregular warfare includes potent, non-kinetic strikes — such as information operations — that must be timed precisely.
“The coordination of information operations actually resides within SO/LIC … So, we have the unique opportunity to coordinate across the combatant commands; not only within DOD but also with sister agencies … is not just a SOF opportunity, it’s a whole of Department of Defense opportunity” he added.
After Jenkins described SOF’s aforementioned attributes, Fenton then discussed Socom’s role in crisis response, including conducting anti-terrorism operations.
“Socom’s crisis response mission is the nation’s most lethal and surgical tool to eliminate threats to the homeland, rescue American citizens protect diplomats, all at a moment’s notice,” Fenton said.
He explained that, in just the past three years, the frequency of presidentially directed crisis response missions has increased by 200%.
“Yet, for this sacred obligation, we will accept no risk in today’s crisis response mission,” he said.
Noting the Socom team makes up just 3% of the department’s forces and less than 2% of the defense budget, Fenton pointed out that Socom forces in recent months have eliminated over 500 terrorists with the intent and capability to strike the homeland, as well as capturing an additional 600 with the aid of global SOF partners.
“Socom remains the world’s premier special operations force. I pledge to always provide the nation with the best capability for the fiscal and personnel resources we receive. We will never compromise on standards and lethality,” Fenton told the committee.
Jenkins added that the nation’s security depends on a strong, agile, modernized and accountable SOF enterprise.
“With your support, we’ll continue ensuring SOF is ready to deter, fight and win anytime, anywhere,” he added. (Source: U.S. DoD)
07 Apr 25. A $1trn defense budget? Trump, Hegseth say it’s happening.
“We also essentially approved a budget, which is in the [vicinity], you’ll like to hear this, of a trillion dollars,” Trump said while meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking Monday evening in the White House, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement: The US appears poised for its first $1trn defense budget request.
“We also essentially approved a budget, which is in the [vicinity], you’ll like to hear this, of a trillion dollars,” Trump said while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “$1 trillion, and nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build our military, and we’re very cost conscious, but the military is something that we have to build, and we have to be strong, because you got a lot of bad forces out there now.
“So we’re going to be approving a budget, and I’m proud to say, actually, the biggest one we’ve ever done for the military.”
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Afterwards, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to confirm that Trump was referring to the fiscal year 2026 request, saying in a message on X, “COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense budget.”
Exactly when the FY26 budget will drop, or what shape it will take, remains unclear. There has been talk of a “skinny budget” with few details coming first, and rumors that May is when budgets will be officially released, but nothing confirmed from the White House or Pentagon.
In a note to investors, TD Cowen analyst Roman Schweizer wrote that “based on last year’s Green Book, we assume this means a $50bn increase for 050 National Defense, which was projected at $951B for the FY26 request.”
He noted that while the majority of that funding likely will go to DoD, some may also be earmarked for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs.
“We believe there has been discussion within the Administration and with Congress pitting advocates of more defense spending versus those in favor of restraining defense spending,” Schweizer wrote. “It seems — at least for now — the defense hawks have won.” (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
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