The D Brief: Army reorg coming?; F-15s get boost; Marines’ cargo-drone plans; DARPA’s next AI-cyber contest; And a bit more.
Army to cut generals, PEOs, commands? Service leaders are reportedly weighing a proposal to reduce the number of generals and program executive offices, and even to merge Army Futures Command with Training and Doctrine Command. That’s from Breaking Defense, which says “two sources in industry have seen a document laying the plan out, while another three have heard details that match the document.” Trimming the Army’s top ranks has been on Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George’s mind since he took the top job in 2023. In December, George said the Army would cut at least a dozen general officers in coming years, more than five percent of the service’s 219 authorized GOs. That revelation followed a Dec. 10 oped in Defense One by R.D. Hooker, a former policy director at the Nation Security Council. The Army “is awash in staffs, many of which did not exist during World War II, or even in the 1990s. After 9/11, the Army Staff grew by 60 percent, while headquarters and staffs Army-wide ballooned. All of these headquarters consume resources withheld from the warfighting Army,” Hooker wrote. Developing: SecDef Hegseth wants Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper to take charge at Central Command once Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla retires some time this summer, according to the Washington Post. Cooper has been CENTCOM’s deputy commander for the past 14 months. If confirmed, his nomination would likely send Army Vice Chief Gen. James Mingus into retirement after his tenure ends in 2026. Mingus was reportedly President Biden’s preference to lead CENTCOM; but Mingus previously served as director of operations for former Joint Chief Army Gen. Mark Milley, who has criticized President Trump, especially after the January 6 failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In the months afterward, Trump suggested Milley should be executed for speaking with a Chinese general during the final weeks of Trump’s first term. “It was not immediately clear why Hegseth favors Cooper over Mingus,” the Post reports, “but the general’s time on the Joint Staff coincided with the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.” Continue reading, here. New: Retiring A-10 aircraft at Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base will be replaced by F-15EX Eagle II fighters jets, President Trump announced Tuesday during a visit to Harrison Township. Rewind: Eight years ago, Selfridge was excluded from Air Force plans to replace the A-10s with F-35A fighter jets. Since then, state and local officials worried over the base’s future out of concern its aging aircraft would be viewed as less relevant for future conflicts. But in a related development last year, Air Force officials announced Selfridge will host a new squadron of KC-46 aerial tankers, Detroit News reported Tuesday. According to the latest plans, Selfridge’s new F-15EXs are to begin arriving in fiscal year 2028, with KC-46As expected the following year. Behind the scenes, the F-15EX “received a boost in recent days when the Senate and House Armed Services Committee released a reconciliation package that includes $150 billion in new defense spending in fiscal 2025,” Air and Space Forces Magazine reported Tuesday. “That package includes $3.15 billion for more F-15EXs,” which are “made by Boeing, [and] will form the backbone of the Air National Guard’s fighter fleet along with the F-35.” About Selfridge: “Located 30 miles north of Detroit, the base generates an estimated $850 million in statewide economic impact and supports about 5,000 military and civilian personnel,” the Associated Press reports, citing officials from Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. “With the F-15EX, plus the KC-46s that are in the pipeline for us, the Michigan Air National Guard will be playing a major role in national defense for decades,” former Michigan GOP Rep. Candice Miller said in a statement. Read more: “F-15 Eagles Win Big In Supersized Defense Spending Bill,” The War Zone reported Tuesday. Additional reading: “Defense budget debate devolves into fight over Hegseth’s controversies,” Military Times reported Tuesday; “House GOP blocks Democrats from forcing votes on Signal scandal, Musk conflicts of interest,” The Hill reported Tuesday; “Jennifer Hegseth holds unorthodox role shaping Pentagon affairs,” the Washington Post reported Wednesday; And an “Army pilot claims he distributed LSD for religious reasons,” Military Times reported Wednesday. Welcome to this Wednesday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 2004, the U.S. military’s torture and abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison became public. Industry How cargo drones could reshape Marine Corps resupply. The Marine Corps is looking for medium-sized cargo drones to handle supply missions across the far-flung island
Trimming the Army’s top ranks has been on Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George’s mind since he took the top job in 2023. In December, George said the Army would cut at least a dozen general officers in coming years, more than five percent of the service’s 219 authorized GOs.
That revelation followed a Dec. 10 oped in Defense One by R.D. Hooker, a former policy director at the Nation Security Council. The Army “is awash in staffs, many of which did not exist during World War II, or even in the 1990s. After 9/11, the Army Staff grew by 60 percent, while headquarters and staffs Army-wide ballooned. All of these headquarters consume resources withheld from the warfighting Army,” Hooker wrote.
Developing: SecDef Hegseth wants Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper to take charge at Central Command once Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla retires some time this summer, according to the Washington Post. Cooper has been CENTCOM’s deputy commander for the past 14 months.
If confirmed, his nomination would likely send Army Vice Chief Gen. James Mingus into retirement after his tenure ends in 2026. Mingus was reportedly President Biden’s preference to lead CENTCOM; but Mingus previously served as director of operations for former Joint Chief Army Gen. Mark Milley, who has criticized President Trump, especially after the January 6 failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In the months afterward, Trump suggested Milley should be executed for speaking with a Chinese general during the final weeks of Trump’s first term.
“It was not immediately clear why Hegseth favors Cooper over Mingus,” the Post reports, “but the general’s time on the Joint Staff coincided with the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.” Continue reading, here.
New: Retiring A-10 aircraft at Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base will be replaced by F-15EX Eagle II fighters jets, President Trump announced Tuesday during a visit to Harrison Township.
Rewind: Eight years ago, Selfridge was excluded from Air Force plans to replace the A-10s with F-35A fighter jets. Since then, state and local officials worried over the base’s future out of concern its aging aircraft would be viewed as less relevant for future conflicts. But in a related development last year, Air Force officials announced Selfridge will host a new squadron of KC-46 aerial tankers, Detroit News reported Tuesday. According to the latest plans, Selfridge’s new F-15EXs are to begin arriving in fiscal year 2028, with KC-46As expected the following year.
Behind the scenes, the F-15EX “received a boost in recent days when the Senate and House Armed Services Committee released a reconciliation package that includes $150 billion in new defense spending in fiscal 2025,” Air and Space Forces Magazine reported Tuesday. “That package includes $3.15 billion for more F-15EXs,” which are “made by Boeing, [and] will form the backbone of the Air National Guard’s fighter fleet along with the F-35.”
About Selfridge: “Located 30 miles north of Detroit, the base generates an estimated $850 million in statewide economic impact and supports about 5,000 military and civilian personnel,” the Associated Press reports, citing officials from Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
“With the F-15EX, plus the KC-46s that are in the pipeline for us, the Michigan Air National Guard will be playing a major role in national defense for decades,” former Michigan GOP Rep. Candice Miller said in a statement.
Read more: “F-15 Eagles Win Big In Supersized Defense Spending Bill,” The War Zone reported Tuesday.
Additional reading:
- “Defense budget debate devolves into fight over Hegseth’s controversies,” Military Times reported Tuesday;
- “House GOP blocks Democrats from forcing votes on Signal scandal, Musk conflicts of interest,” The Hill reported Tuesday;
- “Jennifer Hegseth holds unorthodox role shaping Pentagon affairs,” the Washington Post reported Wednesday;
- And an “Army pilot claims he distributed LSD for religious reasons,” Military Times reported Wednesday.
Welcome to this Wednesday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 2004, the U.S. military’s torture and abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison became public.
Industry
How cargo drones could reshape Marine Corps resupply. The Marine Corps is looking for medium-sized cargo drones to handle supply missions across the far-flung islands of the Pacific. But distance isn’t the only challenge the Marines face in the Pacific, Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports. There’s also component parts, food, fuel and other supplies—the sorts of supply missions where sending human helicopter pilots out is costly and risky, relative to the cargo. It’s also an area other drone companies haven’t been focused on.
On Tuesday, Piasecki Aircraft Corporation announced it had acquired Kaman Air Vehicles’ KARGO program, a medium-lift drone that fits in a standard trailer and can lift a 500-pound payload for long distances, or a 1,000-pound payload for short missions of about 100 nautical miles, said President and CEO John Piasecki.
If Kaman sounds familiar, the firm has been trying to roboticize cargo delivery for the military for more than a decade. It achieved a big first in 2011 with the flight of a remote-controlled heavy lift helicopter, the K-Max, in Afghanistan. Despite the success, the K-Max never became a program of record, as Marine Corps needs changed and the limited autonomy was a problem. Read more, here.
Additional reading: “DARPA takes aim at China's telecom hacks in AI-cyber contest,” NextGov reported Tuesday.
Trump 2.0
- “Danish king arrives in Greenland as Trump eyes strategic Arctic island,” the Associated Press reported Wednesday on location;
- “Trump’s sagging poll numbers become a concern for GOP,” The Hill reported Wednesday;
- And “Trump Says He Could Bring Back Wrongly Deported Man, But Won’t,” the New York Times reported Wednesday; The Hill has similar coverage that’s not paywalled, here.
