Pentagon shifts focus to drones, retires legacy helicopters
Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth has announced a radical transformation of the U.S. ground forces, which involves moving away from outdated systems and focusing on unmanned systems at the expense of helicopters, as reported by the Breaking Defense portal on Thursday. Older versions of Apache helicopters are set to be phased out.
In an internal memorandum published by the Breaking Defense portal, Hegseth stated that the changes to the largest branch of the U.S. armed forces aim to create "leaner, more lethal force." To achieve this, the military must "transform at an accelerated pace by divesting outdated, redundant, and inefficient programs, as well as restructuring headquarters and acquisition systems."
Hegseth has ordered a series of modernization measures, including outfitting all military divisions with unmanned systems to enable AI-driven command and control capabilities. Another key initiative involves expanding the use of 3D printers for on-site equipment production, ensuring that units can manufacture necessary gear independently. Additionally, Hegseth advocates for halting the procurement of outdated platforms, such as surplus HMMWV vehicles, aging Grey Eagle drones, and legacy helicopters.
They want to increase the role of drones
The Pentagon Chief is calling for a reorganization of assault helicopter units by integrating them with cost-effective drone swarms designed to overwhelm adversaries on the battlefield. According to Alex Miller, the chief technology officer on the U.S. Army command staff, this involves phasing out older versions of AH-64D Apache helicopters. As Breaking Defense notes, it is unclear whether these will be replaced with the latest AH-64E version.
U.S. Army Commander Gen. Randy George, as quoted by the portal, mentioned that retiring older helicopters would increase operational readiness due to the high cost of maintaining the AH-64D.
The U.S. will also cease further purchases of Humvee (HMMWV) and JLTV vehicles. Additionally, they will not procure the newly developed M10 Booker light tanks, the first units of which were delivered to the Army last year.
