US President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting by announcing the 6th generation fighter plane of the F-47 in the Oval Blank Office on Friday March 21, 2025.
(Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Washington – President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to examine all the main weapons programs and consider canceling any effort that represents more than 15% compared to the budget or late – or simply those deemed unwanted by the Secretary of Defense – as part of a larger measure intended to make the purchase process of weapons more quickly and more efficient.
Today, Trump has signed a new decree, entitled “Modernization of defense acquisitions and stimulating innovation in the industrial defense database”, which gives the Pentagon 90 days to examine all its main defense acquisition programs and compose a list of mediocre programs for potential termination.
This directive could set up a list of potential cancellations far beyond what the Ministry of Defense generally considers, because it generally takes on a so-called “Nunn-McCurdy violation” where costs increased by at least 50% before the department weighs whether to stop a program.
“Any program more than 15% late on the basis of the base line of the current acquisition program (APB), 15% on the cost based on the current APB, unable to comply with key performance parameters, or not aligned with the mission priorities of the Secretary of Defense, will be envisaged for potential cancellation,” said the decree. “The Secretary of Defense submits the potential cancellation list to the Director of the Management and Budget Office (OMB) for future budget determinations.”
The decree does not say by what measure a program can be judged “not aligned with the mission priorities of the Secretary of Defense”.
The examination, which will be signed by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, will be carried out by the deputy secretary of defense, Stephen Feinberg, with the coordination of the secretaries of the services and the subsecretary of the Pentagon de la Défense for acquisition and maintenance, according to the decree.
Although the decree does not define which programs will be in the Trump administration’s reticle, an information sheet of the White House accompanying the Order calls for the new Air Force planes, the Sentinental ballistic missiles system and the “Nine Navy Ship Programs” as for efforts that are too budget, late or both.
“While I work again to rebuild the military force and the deterrence of America that Joe Biden has so stupid, we have to examine a long and hard on defense supply and our industrial defense base, because it was withered,” said Trump, according to a white house information sheet. “Given all the money we spend for the Pentagon, it is unacceptable that we would never eat ammunition or that we are unable to quickly produce the necessary weapons.”
The order comes just one day after Trump suggested that he was putting pressure on an annual pentagon budget Almost a summit of $ 1 billion.
Beyond program journals, the order asks HegSeth to submit a plan to reform acquisitions within 60 days of preferences to commercial technologies, reduce bureaucratic or redundant processes and encourage innovation.
The plan should help accelerate the acquisition of weapons and include “a general preference for other transaction authorities, the application of rapid capacity office policies or any other authority or way to promote rationalized acquisitions within the framework of the adaptive acquisition framework”, indicates the order.
It should also include an examination of acquisition workforce jobs – including program managers, markets for markets and financial managers – with the aim of “eliminating (ING) unnecessary tasks, reduction (reduction) of approvals in duplication and decision -making of Centraliz (ING)”.
The discounts of defense labor could be on the table, because HegSeth is also responsible for developing a separate plan for “reform of the acquisition workforce” within 120 days presents the endowment levels necessary to develop and buy the army’s weapons systems. This plan will also include new performance evaluation measures, such as “the ability to demonstrate and apply a first consideration of commercial solutions, adaptive acquisition routes through the adaptive acquisition framework and iterative requirements based on the prospect of the end user”, indicates the order.
Finally, the order also calls on the Pentagon to propose changes to existing acquisition regulations, including the elimination of too heavy rules and directs a “complete review” of the joint capacity and development system within 180 days.
