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- Pete seethes: the head of the Pentagon announced the beginning of preparations for the war of the future
Pete seethes: the head of the Pentagon announced the beginning of preparations for the war of the future
The head of the US Department of War, Pete Hegseth, announced the beginning of a large-scale restructuring of American defense. He presented initiatives in the field of education, human resources and military construction. In addition, the minister announced the launch of a major reform project for the US Army aimed at exploring possible scenarios for future combat operations. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Who "woke up" is to blame for himself
As expected, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth began his speech at the Quantico Marine Corps Base by criticizing the WAKE culture (its supporters pay increased attention to issues related to social, racial and sexual justice. — Ed.), which spread in the armed forces during the era of two democratic administrations.
Among other things, he said he would close existing diversity and inclusion programs, review the composition of units with female military personnel, and introduce screening tests for testosterone deficiency in men. A new wave of upcoming layoffs was also announced — the Pentagon will soon reduce another 20% of serving generals and admirals.
The big reform
However, the Pentagon chief focused on new types of weapons and future warfare technologies. On the way to creating a fully functional command, the Ministry is launching updated initiatives called the Agincourt Project, designed to accelerate the implementation of autonomous systems. Hegseth noted that under this model, operators and entrepreneurs will be combined in rapid adaptation cycles, while solutions and financing will be provided closer to the frontline units and command.
Another area that Hegseth drew attention to is going to be implemented through the Meridian project. The steering group will be headed by Elon Musk (which means SpaceXAI will get another opportunity to make money on government orders), former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Senator Newt Gingrich, and Palmer Lucky, co-founder of Anudril Industries, which has been a contractor for the US and UK intelligence agencies in the field of applied digital technologies for the past few years.
The American minister stressed that Meridian's goal is to "creatively look into the future and identify key areas and opportunities that are relevant." In other words, we are talking about a new Star Wars concept, which, according to the head of the Pentagon, will include "the search, development and implementation of weapons and systems that our children and grandchildren will need during their lives, without any creative restrictions, on any battlefield in the future, from the bowels of the Earth." to the moon." However, for now, this "creative look" into the future will obviously be aimed only at developing the conceptual foundations of potentially necessary technologies and reviewing similar strategies already created by competitors.
A separate point is unmanned technologies. Hegseth acknowledged the lag of the United States in this component from a number of states. "The pace of warfare is changing faster than the process of supporting it," he pointed out, apparently referring to the helplessness of the American army in the face of tactics used by its Iranian opponents. It is noteworthy that the Minister of War cited Ukraine as a pioneer in the field of unmanned technologies. Under the goals outlined by the head of the Pentagon, a new command has been created in the armed forces, which should accelerate the introduction of inexpensive unmanned systems, under the leadership of a four-star general (which is equivalent to the rank of general of the Army of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation).
Another important aspect is the autonomization of military infrastructure. The Fortress America initiative proposed by Hegseth (Federal Resilience Operations) is designed to equip important facilities with everything necessary to exist in the absence of external sources of supply and protection from cyber attacks. Among other things, it was announced the development of small nuclear reactors that will be able to provide American bases with electricity, regardless of the state of local power grids.
At the macro level, the head of the Pentagon also demands autonomy. He called for eliminating the existing critical dependence of defense sector companies on Chinese imports. First of all, this concerns rare earth metals used in aviation, air defense systems and the production of armored vehicles.
Hegseth also announced the construction of a new large military base. Although he did not specify her appointment, he nevertheless called on the governors of American states to participate in the tender for the project. According to the minister, the military is looking for suitable "hundreds of thousands of acres of land" to create a facility with modern air defense equipment and technology.
Two conclusions
On the one hand, Hegseth's statements are a repetition of theses repeatedly voiced by him (and not only) even before the election of Donald Trump for a second presidential term. The head of the Pentagon notes the dangerous complex dependence of the US army on the globalized world, from economics to ideology, which also implies Washington's duty to ensure the security of allies around the world.
On the other hand, the Minister of War recognizes that both technologically and partly conceptually, even 15 years ago, the strongest army in the world is now inferior to the main global and even some regional competitors. All this is happening against the background of the missed aging of military infrastructure and communications and their unpreparedness for the next technological stage. This problem was noticed back in the Biden administration — it was not for nothing that in 2021 the White House announced the allocation of $ 1 trillion to modernize roads, bridges, power grids and expand access to broadband Internet. All this is directly related to the issue of defense capability.
In addition, there is an overripe problem of social and medical support for veterans, which, although not directly within the scope of the Pentagon's direct activities (there is a separate ministry for this), casts a shadow on the reputation of the American army.
Last chance
Meanwhile, for Hegseth, the stated reform is a matter of political survival and legacy. The upcoming midterm congressional elections and the expected victory of the Democrats do not bode well for the head of the Pentagon.
Next year, he will face a real threat of impeachment, primarily because of the consequences of the unsuccessful military campaign against Iran. This means that it will become much more difficult to implement the modernization of the armed forces proposed by him.
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