Hegset demands major US defense contractors accelerate weapons development
Kyiv • UNN
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegset called on defense companies to accelerate the development and production of weapons, threatening their disappearance. He also announced the creation of a "deal-making team" to support Pentagon procurement.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has demanded that major defense contractors accelerate the development and production of weapons or "disappear." UNN reports this with reference to the Financial Times.
Details
In his speech on procurement reform on Friday, Hegseth also called for unprecedented private investment in the defense industry and announced the creation of a specialized "deal-making team" to support Pentagon arms procurement.
Detailing the Pentagon's plans to accelerate its notoriously slow and expensive procurement process, he invited new companies to compete with defense heavyweights such as Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and General Dynamics.
"These large defense (groups) must shift their focus to speed and volume and invest their own capital to achieve this... if they don't, these large companies will disappear," he told industry executives at the National War College in Washington.
Hegseth also urged traditional aerospace and defense companies to invest more of their own capital, rather than "burdening taxpayers with all the costs."
He said the Pentagon's move to cut contract requirements and regulations would increase competition. Quoting a speech by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Hegseth called the Pentagon's bureaucracy an "adversary."
Consolidation due to post-Cold War Pentagon budget cuts reduced the number of prime contractors from 51 in 1990 to just five companies that dominate the production of weapons and other technologies for the US military.
The changes introduced by the Secretary are aimed at unleashing greater private sector investment in defense industrial capacity by stabilizing the Pentagon's commitment to procure certain systems over time.
The new "deal team," which will be part of a newly created procurement unit known as the War Production Unit, will be "empowered to strike groundbreaking business deals that revolutionize manufacturing capabilities and completely rethink contract execution."
Hegseth also said the Pentagon would take on more "acquisition risks" so that no bid would be deemed non-compliant. The Department of Defense will also cut certain reporting requirements, accounting standards, testing rules, oversight rules, and research and analysis.
"This is the beginning of a relentless offensive aimed at changing the way we do business and how bureaucracy reacts," he said.
Jerry McGinn, director of the industrial base center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Hegseth "was right to focus on changing incentives to achieve better outcomes."
He added that while there is a danger of weakening rules and requirements, "we have certainly gone too far in the other direction."
Hegseth also pledged to accelerate the sale of US weapons to allies and partners, calling it a "top priority" for his team, given President Donald Trump's efforts to secure deals for American equipment.
The Secretary stated that the sale of military products abroad "is crucial to our strategic vision of the global landscape."
McGinn said he was "pleased" with the "Secretary's strong emphasis on allies and partners," as such an emphasis "contradicts some of the administration's narratives."
Josh Kirshner, managing director of Beacon Global Strategies, said Hegseth's speech reflected long-standing concerns of traditional players and defense startups, and echoed what the Pentagon has been telling companies in recent months.
"I think defense companies that have been with the Pentagon for a long time and those that have recently joined it agree with many of the frustrations outlined by the Secretary," he said. "They are just as eager and interested in seeing the department move faster."
But Kirshner warned that the changes would take time, which Hegseth also acknowledged.
"The difficulties in implementing this will be far-reaching and significant, likely taking much longer than leadership expects," Kirshner said.
Addition
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced an improvement in relations between the United States and China. This came after US President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea and his own meeting with Chinese Minister of National Defense Admiral Dong Jun in Malaysia.