May 28, 2025 - Politics & Policy

Army weapons shake-up backed by Hegseth and other Trump picks

Colin Demarest

Dan Driscoll, a man, is seated in a Black Hawk helicopter and looking out the window at the ground below. — Army Secretary Dan Driscoll aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk in March. Photo: Nicole Mejia/DVIDS

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the wider Trump White House are providing "air cover" for the U.S. Army's ongoing vehicle-and-weapons upheaval, the service's top civilian told Axios.

Why it matters: System shocks are exactly that — a shock. Executing them requires support, especially at such a politically volatile moment.

"Fundamentally, they just have a risk tolerance that doesn't match, I think, previous administrations," Secretary Dan Driscoll said at a live Axios event.

"There are a lot of states and congressional districts and lobbyists; there are rational reasons why it exists the way it is today," he said. "Those reasons are just not in the best interest of soldiers."

Friction point: On the materiel chopping block are longtime favorites (Humvee, Apache and the Improved Turbine Engine Program) as well as relative newcomers (M10 Booker).

By the numbers: The Army is expected to save $48 billion over the next five years.

Driscoll told Axios he and others consider comparisons between the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) and Elon Musk's DOGE a compliment.
"I think DOGE is loaded," he added. "You have a lot of people who have these feelings about it."

The intrigue: Both Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George have been working the media circuit since ATI was announced May 1.

That includes an appearance on Fox News, in which George said the service is cutting "some of the bloat, making sure that we get after the inefficiencies, so that we're completely focused on buying war-winning technologies."

Go deeper: U.S. Army seeks better batteries as it battles the cold

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Army weapons shake-up backed by Hegseth and other Trump picks

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