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Between the Army’s massive acquisition overhaul and its overarching transformation effort this year, the service has experienced some extensive shakeups, and as they begin to settle in 2026, there are a handful of people, vendors and programs I’ll be keeping my eyes on.
The 2025 acquisition shakeup called for the Army to decrease bloat by consolidating the number of general officers at the top rank, combining and slimming the 12 former program executive offices (PEOs) in charge of acquisition, and creating a whole new reporting structure.
The 12 PEOs were replaced by six program acquisition executives (PAEs), lessening the number of people in charge of requirements and combining offices sharing the same capabilities. Each PAE will include a Senior Contracting Official (SCO) with the “authority to award contracts quickly, eliminating bottlenecks and simplifying the process for industry,” the Army said in a November statement.
[This article is one of many in a series in which Breaking Defense reporters look back on the most significant (and entertaining) news stories of 2025 and look forward to what 2026 may hold.]
“We had previously created a system that was wildly risk averse and … the cost of that risk aversion was being able to get tools into the hands of our soldiers fast enough for them to actually be able to use it,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told Breaking Defense in November.
With that, I’ll be watching to see if any other four-star billets are cut or if any other commands are downgraded to a three-star posting, as happened with Army Material Command. I’ll also be watching to see how closely the PAEs are working with soldiers in the field to streamline the requirements process, as well as looking out for how well the new PAE leaders are managing having a larger capability portfolio. Finally, I’ll be looking to see if the SCOs will, in fact, be able to award contracts at speed while “eliminating bottlenecks.”
Driscoll also emphasized that the Army is looking to do less business with traditional primes and more business with smaller, commercial Silicon Valley-like vendors.
What I’ll be watching: Will Driscoll go through with this promise? How will the primes react to this? Which nontraditional companies will rise to the challenge?
In With The New, Out With The Old
Just as the service is overhauling how it buys things, it’s looking at changes to what it buys.
Something I’ll also be tracking in the new year is fate of the M1E3 tank, which is set to replace the venerable Abrams. Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said the new tank will likely derive, at least in part, from commercial industry, as the pair said the Army is looking to buy Caterpillar engines for the vehicle. With the commercialization of the engine and perhaps other parts, the Army is expecting its first prototype at the end of 2026, which is five to six years ahead of what the Army originally planned for, George told reporters in November.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for any progress related to prototyping developments for the M1E3 both from the Army and General Dynamics Land Systems who is making the “pre”-prototype right now. I’ll also be looking to see if any commercial-type vendors will become more involved in its development.
In addition to updating its ground vehicle portfolio, the Army has been attempting to move fast in adopting other types of tech and platforms like drones and counter-drones. In November, the Army announced it was in the process of setting up a marketplace for drones and counter-drone capabilities where military leaders and other agency heads can purchase equipment quickly.
I’ll be looking out for the official launch of the marketplaces and which vendors will be selling what products. I’ll also be looking out for how easily military commanders and agency heads are able to purchase from the marketplace.
Prior to the marketplace announcement, the Pentagon released its drone dominance memo, calling for every US Army squad to be armed with small, one-way attack drones by the end of fiscal 2026.
I’ll be carefully following the service’s progress in outfitting such drones to Army units as well as the type of drones being received. I’ll also be looking out for what kinds of drones are performing the best and roughly how many drones are going to what units.
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