In a fiery and unapologetic speech Monday morning at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced sweeping reforms to the service’s tech acquisition process, vowing to cut bureaucracy and adopt Silicon Valley speed.
“We cannot f—— wait to innovate until Americans are dying on the battlefield … We must act now to enable our soldiers,” Driscoll said, declaring that the Army has “wasted billions of dollars on failed programs” due to a system burdened by inefficiency and outdated processes.
The centerpiece of the new approach is FUZE – the Army’s “cradle-to-grave” capital funding model designed to identify emerging technologies, rapidly fund startups, and deliver minimally viable products to soldiers in weeks, not years.
Backed by $750 million this year and expected to rise to $765 million next year, FUZE is modeled after the venture capital ecosystem, aiming to break down traditional barriers that have long kept smaller, more agile companies out of defense contracting.
“Our goal with FUZE is to contract with startups that have never, ever worked with the United States Army before in just 60 to 70 days,” Driscoll said. “For companies we have worked with that have prototype-level entries, we want to contract in 10 and start soldier iterations in 30 to 45 days.”
The reforms go beyond funding. Driscoll also announced plans to consolidate the Army’s program executive offices under a single acquisition command reporting directly to senior Army leadership.
The move is intended to eliminate redundant oversight and shift to a system based on modular design, open architectures, and constant iteration – mirroring the fast-paced development cycles of the tech sector.
“We want fast and efficient,” Driscoll said. “We want to get soldiers the tools they need now, not a decade in the future.”
More details about procurement structure changes are expected in the coming weeks.
Nevertheless, Driscoll’s message was clear: the Army’s days of slow, costly, and cumbersome technology acquisition are numbered.
Describing the Army’s new acquisition vision, he stated, “We will set the pace of innovation, and we will win with silicon and silicone and software – not our soldiers’ blood and bodies.”