Hegseth orders 'comprehensive transformation' of US Army, merging offices and cutting units

The Army will stop procuring Humvees, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, and Gray Eagle drones, while General Dynamics Land Systems will be told to stop producing its brand new light tank, the M10 Booker.

By Ashley Roque and Aaron Mehta
on May 01, 2025 at 7:30 AM

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this morning ordered the “transformation” of the US Army, including divesting certain formations, canceling procurement on legacy systems and merging several internal organizations. Breaking Defense first broke news this week that a major restructuring of the Army was on the table, including the mergers of Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command into a new organization — something Hegseth’s memo today confirmed.

Other moves of note include orders to “Reduce and restructure manned attack helicopter formations and augment with inexpensive drone swarms capable of overwhelming adversaries,” and “Divest outdated formations, including select armor and aviation units across the Total Army (Active, Reserve, National Guard).” “To build a leaner, more lethal force, the Army must transform at an accelerated pace by divesting outdated, redundant, and inefficient programs, as well as restructuring headquarters and acquisition systems,” Hegseth wrote in his memo [PDF].

In a memo to the force, obtained by Breaking Defense, service chief Gen. Randy George stated that the changes fall under the branding of the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI), which will have three key focus areas: “deliver critical warfighting capabilities, optimize our force structure, and eliminate waste and obsolete programs.” This initiative,” George wrote, “will reexamine all requirements and eliminate unnecessary ones, ruthlessly prioritize fighting formations to directly contribute to lethality, and empower leaders at echelon to make hard calls to ensure resources align with strategic objectives.” John Ferrari, a senior nonresident fellow at AEI and retired Army Maj. Gen., pointed to repeated use of the year 2027 in Hegseth’s memo,, saying the date is not coincidence but aligns with the recent estimates of China’s capacity.

“This is a bold plan by the Army and its leadership, that aligns decision making and execution by setting 2027 as the date to be completed — a mere 32 months,” Ferrari told Breaking Defense today. “The Army’s changes will be rapid, align with the capabilities of the new tech defense startups, while the other services are still measuring their changes in years and decades,” he later added.

https://breakingdefense.com/2025/05/hegseth-orders-transformation-of-us-army-combining-offices-and-cutting-roles/