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25 Feb 26. Acquisition Reform Means a Focus on Warfighter Success. The War Department aims to modernize how acquisition — the buying of weapons and other materiel from manufacturers — is done to ensure American warfighters get the best tools, at the right price, and as quickly as possible.
In November 2025, for instance, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced a reorganization of the existing program executive offices into portfolio acquisition executives.
“The acquisition chain of authority will run directly from the program manager to the PAE,” Hegseth said at the time. “Each PAE will be the single accountable official for portfolio outcomes and have the authority to act without running through months or even years of approval chains. And they’ll be held accountable to deliver results.”
The secretary said PAEs will be empowered with authorities to make decisions on cost, schedule and performance trade-offs that prioritize time to field and mission outcomes.
During a panel discussion yesterday as part of the Air and Space Forces Association’s warfare symposium in Aurora, Colorado, Air Force Gen. Dale R. White, director of critical major weapon systems, said that effort will be transformational in the acquisition community.
“I think now we take it down to the next level and just think about where we are with our , what we’re doing with the PAEs, giving them authority to make decisions in real time, make trades, and be able to do probably the most important thing with this whole transformation,” White said. ” is not measure ourselves against acquisition outcomes but measure ourselves against mission outcomes, allowing that PAE to look at the operational problem and work to figure out a solution to that problem and be able to have the decision space to do so.”
White said it’s not just PAEs that must be empowered to do their job, but the acquisition enterprise as a whole must be aligned to make acquisition success about meeting mission requirements for the warfighter, not just a positive business outcome.
“We’re just not empowering PAEs; the idea is you get unity of command,” he said. “You get unity of effort. You allow that contracting officer to have a voice in solving that operational problem, that person, that engineer; you change the cultural mindset of how we look at what we’re doing.”
There are plenty of examples, White said, of where there was acquisition success that didn’t result in operational mission success.
“We may have done well on the acquisition side, but how well did that align to the operational need and what we’re trying to do,” he asked. “It is really that hard reset. It’s the empowerment piece and changing the dynamic by which we study the problems that we have.”
For acquisition professionals, White said, acquisition reform will require them to lead with conviction.
“Lead with vision, lead ruthlessly and lead with an intent to solve the operational problem,” he said. “If you want to know what acquisition as a warfighting function means, it means come together as a team, the operational team, the acquiring team, and deliver on the outcome. Sometimes that means you’re going to make some tough decisions that you have to have courage to make; make the decision, drive for the outcome.”
(Source: U.S. DoD)
26 Feb 26. Pentagon asks defense contractors about reliance on Anthropic’s AI services, source says.
• Summary
• Companies
• Pentagon wants Anthropic to ease military usage restrictions
• Hegseth has given Anthropic until 5 p.m. ET Friday to respond
• Pentagon has asked Lockheed about Anthropic, company says
• Has also contacted Boeing, Axios reports
The Pentagon has asked defense contractors to assess their reliance on Anthropic, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, ahead of its Friday deadline for the AI service provider to respond to a request to eliminate safeguards.
The Department of Defense has been engaged in a months-long dispute with Anthropic, which Reuters reported has no intention of easing its usage restrictions for military purposes.
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Talks are continuing after a meeting between the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
During the meeting, Hegseth said if Anthropic did not comply, the Pentagon would take action against it, with options including labeling it a supply-chain risk or invoking a law that would force Anthropic to change its rules, Reuters reported.
The Department of Defense has given Anthropic until Friday 5 p.m. Eastern time (2200 GMT) to respond, Reuters reported.
“The Office of the Secretary of War is preparing to execute on any decision that the Secretary might make on Friday regarding Anthropic,” a senior Pentagon official said.
The Pentagon has asked contractors including Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), oto provide an assessment of reliance on Anthropic, a step toward a potential designation of the AI firm as a supply-chain risk, the person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Contacted contractors include Boeing (BA.N) Axios reported on Wednesday.
A Lockheed spokesperson told Reuters the Pentagon had contacted the company. Boeing Defense, Space and Security said it does not have any active contracts with Anthropic.
Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment.
The person familiar with the matter was not authorized to speak with media so declined to be identified.
The Pentagon has pushed big AI companies including Anthropic and OpenAI to make their AI tools available on classified networks without many of the standard restrictions that the companies apply to users, Reuters has reported.
Its dispute with Anthropic stems from the AI startup’s refusal to remove safeguards that would stop its technology being used to target weapons autonomously and conduct surveillance in the U.S.
The department used Anthropic’s AI products during a military raid that captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, the Wall Street Journal reported. (Source: Reuters)
24 Feb 26. Air Force Secretary Outlines Priorities. The Department of the Air Force’s priorities are readiness, modernization, defending the homeland — including the entire hemisphere, border security, missile defense, nuclear deterrence and people, said Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, who spoke yesterday during the Air and Space Forces Association’s 2026 Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado.
From a conventional deterrence perspective, the focus is on China, which continues to expand and modernize its military at an extremely fast pace, making deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region the biggest challenge by far, he said.
“Given that threat environment, the Air Force and the Space Force must be ready at any time for any threat across the entire spectrum of conflict,” Meink said.
One of the challenges is scaling up production of weapon systems and munitions. Accomplishing that requires the revival of the defense industrial base, which has experienced decades of neglect, he said.
The good news is that beginning last year, production of advanced aircraft and munitions has ramped up. Not as fast as needed, but faster than in the past, the secretary said, adding the testing program for the LGM-35A Sentinel is proceeding well.
The Air Force will replace the aging LGM-30 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile with the Sentinel ICBM. This represents the modernization of the land-based leg of the nuclear triad.
In the space domain, an increase in rocket launches has put more capability into orbit than ever before, thanks to help from commercial partnerships and other military services, as well as the National Reconnaissance Office.
Acquisition transformation includes delivering mission-effective capabilities faster.
“To do that, we must innovate faster than our adversaries,” the secretary said.
To accomplish this, the workforce must be empowered to unleash their talent, take the initiative and know that supervisors have their backs, Meink said, adding that the Department of the Air Force has a phenomenal team. (Source: U.S. DoD)——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
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