Hegseth unveils drone command and 20% cut to US military brass

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced a series of major changes for the US military, including a new drone-focused command and a 20 per cent cut in the number of generals and admirals. He made the announcements in his "State of the Force" address and said the Pentagon would also launch a study on the future of warfare led in part by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Hegseth also said the Defence Department would create an Office of Religious Affairs, build a new military base for the first time in 40 years and move towards making every military base self-powered. The speech came as the US military remains seven months into a war with Iran, with no clear end in sight, and after a series of actions worldwide, including the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in Latin America that killed more than 200 people.

Hegseth made the announcements to junior officers and enlisted leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. It was the second year in a row that he delivered such an address, which is not a usual fixture among Pentagon leaders, who have traditionally addressed troops and top officers in smaller or private settings.

He again opened by highlighting how he has reshaped the US military by targeting what he called "woke" culture. That has included rolling back diversity programmes, reviewing ground combat units with female troops and starting a new screening programme for "testosterone deficiency" among male personnel.

Hegseth announced the creation of a new four-star command to oversee the rollout of autonomous and robotic capabilities, calling it "the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history". He said, "the pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it." He referred to Iran's use of cheap drones, including drones that have killed US troops during the seven-month war, and pointed to Ukraine's use of drones against Russian forces as a lesson for the US military.

"Ukraine's lesson is not that one type of drone wins wars, but rather the need for a purpose-built system that maximises the ability to adapt," Hegseth said.

The announcement comes despite questions over a recent order requiring a US Army unit in Europe that specialised in drone warfare to stop those efforts and return to being a traditional infantry battalion. A bipartisan group of US lawmakers later asked the Army to explain the move, saying battlefields around the world are changing quickly and military tactics are increasingly relying on uncrewed systems.

The new drone command was announced as the US remains in a stalemate with Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy shipping route. The war has forced American forces in the region to use hundreds of expensive missile interceptors against Iranian missile and drone attacks, which have still killed and injured US troops.

Hegseth repeated claims that the US military had destroyed Iran's navy, air force and defence systems, as well as many of its leaders and its industrial base. But Tehran has continued to launch intermittent drone and missile attacks on US or allied bases, while keeping its ability to strike commercial and military ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

During the speech, Hegseth highlighted the Trump administration's investments in the defence industry and its push for contractors to speed up work to expand US weapons stockpiles. But experts say military contractors will need at least three years to replenish key weapons systems that have been used heavily in the war with Iran.

On military leadership, Hegseth said he had directed the services to double the 10 per cent reduction he ordered last spring for about 800 flag and general officer posts, taking the cut to 20 per cent by January 1, 2027. "I call it accountability and long overdue," he said.

Some members of Congress have criticised the war and the depletion of munitions stockpiles, while describing the planned cuts to senior officers as a "purge" that would take years to reverse. Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona and a former Navy combat pilot, said, "He's got some kind of like deep-seated grievance about leadership in the military. He's purging a generation of great leaders of the military, and it's going to take a generation to recover from it." Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, "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."

Hegseth also announced a study on the future of warfare to be led by Musk, Gingrich and Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Anduril Industries. He 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" and added that the US needed to dominate "any future battlefield, from under the Earth to beyond the moon".

He referred to this month's confirmation by the US that it had deployed weapons in space, a significant disclosure after earlier warnings about countries such as Russia possibly taking weapons into a frontier long covered by treaties meant for peaceful use. Among his other announcements was a plan to build a new military base, with all 50 states invited to compete to host 15,000 to 20,000 service members.

In all, Hegseth used his address to set out a broad reshaping of the US military, from drones and future weapons to senior leadership cuts, new administrative offices and base expansion, while the country remains engaged in a costly war with Iran and wider military operations around the world.

With PTI Inputs

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