QUANTICO, Va. (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced some major changes to the U.S. military on Wednesday in what he called his “State of the Force” address, including establishing a new drone command and cutting 20% of the nation’s generals and admirals.
The Pentagon also will launch an effort to study the future of warfare that will be led in part by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Hegseth said. The Defense
Department will create an Office of Religious Affairs and plans to build a new base for the first time in 40 years, he added.
Hegseth made the announcements to junior officers and enlisted leaders at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia — the second year in a row that he has given such an address. But this time, the U.S. military is seven months into a war with Iran with no clear end in sight, has captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and killed more than 200 people in strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in Latin America, among other actions worldwide.
The speech is not a usual fixture among Pentagon leaders. While Hegseth’s predecessors have regularly addressed troops and top officers, they have traditionally done so in small or private settings.
The Pentagon chief, however, again led with how he has drastically retooled the U.S. military by targeting what he calls “woke” culture — through a rollback of diversity programs, a review of ground combat units with female troops and a new screening program for “testosterone deficiency” among male personnel.
The Pentagon chief announced the creation of a new four-star command to oversee the rollout of autonomous and robotic capabilities in what he called “the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.”
He acknowledged that “the pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it.” Iran commonly uses cheap drones, including those that have killed U.S. troops during the seven-month war. Hegseth pointed to Ukraine's pioneering use of drones to combat Russian forces — something American forces have learned from firsthand.
“Ukraine’s lesson is not that one type of drone wins wars, but rather the need for a purpose-built system that maximizes the ability to adapt,” Hegseth said.
However, a U.S. Army unit based in Europe that specialized in drone warfare was ordered recently to end its efforts and return to being a traditional infantry battalion.
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers subsequently asked the Army to explain the order, given that the world’s battlefields are rapidly evolving and military tactics increasingly rely on uncrewed systems to fight.
The new drone command comes as the U.S. is in a stalemate with Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy shipping corridor. The war has forced American forces in the region to expend hundreds of expensive missile interceptors to defend against Iran’s missile and drone attacks, which have still managed to kill and wound U.S. troops.
Hegseth repeated claims that the U.S. military has destroyed Iran's navy, air force and defense systems as well as many of its leaders and its industrial base. But Tehran has continued intermittently to launch drone and missile attacks against at U.S. or allied bases, while maintaining its ability to strike commercial and military ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
During his speech, Hegseth touted the Trump administration’s major investments in the defense industry and push for contractors to speed up their work to expand the nation’s weapons arsenals. But experts say U.S. military contractors will need at least three years to replenish stockpiles of key weapons systems used heavily in the Iran war.
Hegseth said he directed the military services to double the 10% reduction he ordered last spring for roughly 800 flag and general officer positions, to a 20% decrease to be completed by Jan. 1, 2027.
“I call it accountability and long overdue,” he said.
Some members of Congress have criticized the war and the drawdown of munitions stockpiles, while calling the latest cuts to the general ranks a “purge” that will take years to rebuild.
“He’s got some kind of like deep-seated grievance about leadership in the military,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a former Navy combat pilot who has been critical of Hegseth. “He’s purging a generation of great leaders of the military, and it’s going to take a generation to recover from it.”
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he wanted to understand Hegseth’s reasoning.
“If it’s simply a matter of eliminating a very heavy top, there may be some validity to it, but I want to see it first,” Rounds said.
In innovating the next wave of weapons systems, Hegseth announced an effort to study the future of warfare led by Musk, Gingrich and Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Anduril Industries.
Hegseth said the work “will be focused on discovering, developing and fielding the weapons and systems that our children and our grandchildren will need in their lifetimes.” He pointed to the need to dominate "any future battlefield, from under the Earth to beyond the moon.”
This month, the U.S. confirmed for the first time that it had deployed weapons in space, a remarkable revelation after previous warnings about countries such as Russia possibly weaponizing a global frontier long agreed in treaties to be used for only peaceful purposes.
Among the other announcements was the unveiling of a plan to build a new military base, with Hegseth inviting all 50 states to compete for the chance to play host to 15,000 to 20,000 service members. He also announced a plan to make every military base self-powered.
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Finley reported from Washington, and Kinnard from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
