MEGHANN MYERS
The Army got a long list of marching orders from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday, with deadlines for fielding new weapons and technology, directives to unload old equipment, and orders to merge the service’s futures and doctrine organizations.
The memo includes a lot of items the service was already working on, or had considered but hadn’t been told to prioritize, a Defense official told Defense One.
“It is nothing but good news, nothing but excitement for us to build judicious plans and move as fast as we can,” the official said.
Weapons deadlines top the list. Long-range missiles that can hit moving land and sea targets, an apparent reference to the Precision Strike Missile now under testing, are to be fielded by 2027. Every division is to receive unnamed unmanned systems and “Ground/Air launched effects” by 2026. Counter-drone systems are to be sent to maneuver platoons by 2026 and maneuver companies by 2027.
Then there’s offloading outdated equipment and axing wasteful programs. The memo calls out the Humvee, which the service will begin to replace in brigade combat teams this year with its new infantry squad vehicle.
“We don’t want to take them to the next war,” the Defense official said of the Army’s roughly 100,000 older ground vehicles.
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