Reforms to how the United States acquires weapons pledged by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration offer new ways to simplify and accelerate the process, but persistent constraints will likely limit transformation, hampering U.S. preparations for future conflicts and risking the quality of new capabilities. On Nov. 10, the U.S. Department of Defense released the texts of memorandums U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth referenced in a highly anticipated Nov. 7 address in which he outlined a strategy to streamline the Pentagon's procurement process, revive the country's defense industrial base and accelerate the delivery of capabilities to U.S. military personnel. According to Hegseth, "The defense acquisition system as you know it is dead." The planned updates include simplifying the chain of command to acquire new capabilities, giving more freedom to acquisition officials to shift funds and make decisions more quickly, favoring commercially available solutions over bespoke ones, changing contract terms to...
