Hegseth orders 20% cut in military’s top ranks

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed yesterday that the United States military will cut 20 per cent of its generals and admirals as he made a series of announcements about a new drone command and more in what he called his “State of the Force” address.

Hegseth was speaking to junior officers and enlisted leaders at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, the second year in a row that he has given such an address. This time, the US military is seven months into a war with Iran with no clear end in sight, has captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and killed more than 200 people in strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in Latin America, among other actions worldwide.

The speech is not a usual fixture among Pentagon leaders. While Hegseth’s predecessors have regularly addressed troops and top officers, they have traditionally done so in small or private settings.

The Pentagon chief, however, again led with how he has drastically retooled the US military by targeting what he calls “woke” culture –through a rollback of diversity programmes, a review of ground combat units with female troops, and a new screening programme for “testosterone deficiency” among male personnel.

Pentagon officials had previewed that Hegseth would announce more cuts to the number of generals and admirals. He directed all military services to double the 10 per cent reduction he ordered last spring for roughly 800 flag and general officer positions, making it a total 20 per cent decrease to be completed by January 1, 2027.

“I call it accountability and long overdue,” he said.

The Pentagon chief announced the creation of a new four-star command to oversee the rollout of autonomous and robotic capabilities in what he called “the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history”.

The rollout comes a month after officials said that an Army unit based in Europe that specialised in drone warfare had been directed to return to being a traditional infantry battalion, ending its efforts to learn and use the battlefield technology.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers subsequently asked the Army to explain the order given that the world’s battlefields are rapidly evolving and military tactics increasingly rely on uncrewed systems to fight.

The announcement of the new drone command comes with the US in a stalemate with Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy-shipping corridor. The war has forced American forces in the region to expend hundreds of expensive missile interceptors to defend against Iran’s missile and drone attacks, which have still managed to kill and wound US troops.

Hegseth repeated claims that the US military has destroyed Iran’s navy, air force, and defence systems as well as many of its leaders and its industrial base. But the Islamic Republic has continued intermittently to launch drone and missile attacks at US or allied bases in the region while maintaining its ability to strike commercial and military ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

During his speech, Hegseth touted the Trump administration’s major investments in the defence industry and push for contractors to speed up their work to expand the nation’s weapons arsenals. But experts say US military contractors will need at least three years to replenish stockpiles of key weapons systems used heavily in the Iran war.

Members of Congress have criticised the war and the drawdown of munitions stockpiles, and some called the latest cuts to the general ranks a “purge” of the military’s top ranks that will take years to rebuild.