QUANTICO, Va. — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a “State of the Force” address Wednesday to announce a new four-star command focused on drones and autonomous warfare and to double planned cuts in general and admiral ranks to 20% by Jan. 1, 2027, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking to junior officers and enlisted leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Hegseth cast the autonomous-warfare command as “the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history,” aiming to scale robotic capabilities across the joint force. He pointed to cheap Iranian drones that have killed U.S. troops and to Ukraine’s adaptive drone tactics as reasons the Pentagon must move faster than traditional acquisition cycles.
Hegseth said he is expanding an earlier 10% reduction of roughly 800 flag and general officer billets to a 20% cut, calling it “accountability and long overdue.” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a former Navy combat pilot, criticized the drawdown as a “purge” that could take a generation to repair. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he wants to see the rationale before judging whether the military is simply “eliminating a very heavy top.”
The Pentagon will also launch Project Meridian, a future-warfare study Hegseth said will involve SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Hegseth described the effort as looking “from under the Earth to beyond the moon” for capabilities the next generation will need. Other announcements included plans for a new domestic base that governors may bid to host, an Office of Religious Affairs, and a “Fortress America” push to make bases more energy-independent, per The Hill’s rundown of the speech.
Hegseth repeated claims that U.S. forces have devastated Iran’s conventional military and nuclear ambitions even as Tehran still threatens Hormuz shipping and U.S. bases. Experts note munitions stockpiles depleted in the seven-month war may take years to refill. Lawmakers are already questioning whether cultural fights and rank cuts distract from industrial-base and interceptor shortfalls.
The Quantico speech blends wartime messaging with midterm-season defense politics. Implementation timelines for the drone command, Meridian study, and general-officer cuts will determine whether Hegseth’s vision becomes structure — or another round of Pentagon rebranding under fire.
Hegseth’s address also revisited culture-war priorities — rolling back diversity programs, reviewing women in some ground combat roles, and screening for “testosterone deficiency” among male personnel — while attacking media coverage of the Iran war. Supporters call it a return to a “warrior ethos”; critics in Congress say those fights distract from munitions production and alliance management. A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently pressed the Army after a Europe-based drone-specialist unit was ordered back to conventional infantry roles, underscoring mixed signals on unmanned warfare even as Hegseth announces a four-star drone command.
Arizona’s Kelly is among the sharpest Democratic critics of the general-officer cuts. How services implement a 20% flag-rank reduction by early 2027 — and whether combatant-command billets or staff headquarters take the brunt — will shape readiness debates through the midterms and into the next defense budget cycle.