President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday calling for a full review of all defense acquisition programs, targeting projects that are over budget or behind schedule for possible termination.
The order—titled “Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base”—gives Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 90 days to assess major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs) that are at least 15% over budget or delayed.
As Trump pushes to boost the defense budget to $1 trillion next year, the Pentagon’s spending inefficiencies have become a key focus for both his administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Unfortunately, after years of misplaced priorities and poor management, our defense acquisition system does not provide the speed and flexibility our Armed Forces need to have decisive advantages in the future,” the order reads. “In order to strengthen our military edge, America must deliver state‐of‐the‐art capabilities at speed and scale through a comprehensive overhaul of this system.”
From The Daily Caller:
The Pentagon usually only considers cancelling programs that exceed their budgets by 50% or more, known as a “Nunn-McCurdy breach.” The current defense budget for fiscal year 2025 rounds out to $849.8 billion.
The Trump administration singled out specific programs it deemed wasteful in the order’s accompanying fact sheet, including the Air Force’s “Sentinel” Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, which is “already two years behind schedule and 37% more expensive than originally promised.”
The projected $140 billion cost of the Sentinel program could be used to buy roughly ten Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.
Other programs mentioned in the fact sheet include the new Air Force One, which is delayed until 2029 despite the contract being awarded in 2018.
Read the full order here:
Anyone in this space knows: defense reform is hard. This EO isn’t a silver bullet, but the signal to industry is clear: moving fast, building smart, and taking risks just got institutional backing. #FrontlineForward https://t.co/YAMGK4xovL
— Kayla Haas (@thekaylahaas) April 10, 2025
Thank you for visiting