Army looking to cancel legacy systems, pursue dual-use capabilities
"The first thing is, we are going to start to cut the things we don't want or need,” Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll told reporters Thursday.
By
Mark Pomerleau
May 1, 2025
The Army is planning to eliminate systems it deems obsolete for soldiers on the battlefield in the future, as senior leaders call for greater use of commercially available capabilities going forward.
The traditional acquisition system can take years from initial requirements to fielding meaning that by the time units received it, the capability could be outdated or didn’t work as intended.
“The American politicians over 30 years have harmed the American soldier, not necessarily intentionally in all instances, but they have let rational decision-making decay. They have a lot of calcified bureaucracy get in the way of doing what’s right,” Secretary Daniel Driscoll told reporters Thursday at the Pentagon. “We are changing that. From this moment forward, we are going to make every decision, and the only thing we are going to weigh is this good for the American soldier, does this make them more lethal, when we send them around the world to fight and kill on our behalf, does this increase the odds of them succeeding at that mission and coming home to their community safely?”
This comes on the heels of a memo signed Wednesday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth charging Driscoll to transform the Army by making it leaner through combining and slashing certain headquarters elements and changing how the service purchases capabilities, all in the name of prioritizing homeland defense and deterring China in the Indo-Pacific.
https://defensescoop.com/2025/05/01/army-cancel-legacy-systems-pursue-dual-use-capabilities-driscoll/
