GAO describes “cost growth, schedule delays, or both” in big-dollar programs such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s Block-4 upgrade—and the risk of more in the Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, program, where, it said, the Air Force isn’t being fully transparent about cost projections. The report also notes delays for B-21 stealth bombers, Columbia-class submarines, and Ford-class aircraft carriers. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports, here.
A new DEI purge adds to DOD’s growing administrative burden, the Associated Press reports: “Building lethality in the military may be the buzzword for the new Trump administration, but busywork and paperwork have become the reality at the Pentagon, as service members and civilian workers are facing a broad mandate to purge all of the department’s social media sites and untangle confusing personnel reduction moves.”
A Wednesday memo from the department’s top public affairs official, AP reports, requires “all the military services to spend countless hours poring over years of website postings, photos, news articles and videos to remove any mentions that ‘promote diversity, equity and inclusion.’ If they can’t do that by March 5, they have been ordered to ‘temporarily remove from public display’ all content published during the Biden administration’s four years in office.”
Meanwhile “the military services also are scrambling to identify probationary workers the administration has targeted for firing under its campaign to slash the government workforce. They are also trying to figure out how many civilian workers have agreed to leave under the government-wide buyouts and whether they have been approved,” AP writes. Read on, here.
Today on the Hill, Trump’s Navy secretary nominee John Phelan is testifying before the Senate Armed Services committee in a hearing that began at 9:30 a.m. ET. Livestream what’s left, here.
If confirmed, what would Phelan change about the Navy? He would like to bolster recruiting numbers, he told lawmakers ahead of Thursday’s hearing. But exactly how he’d do so is a bit of a mystery. “I would advocate for bold recruitment and retention reforms, cutting bureaucratic red tape and improving quality of life initiatives to attract and retain top talent,” he said, adding without specifics or much of an explanation how this differs from the past, “A key component of this effort would be reinvigorating the Navy’s marketing strategy, leveraging both traditional and digital platforms to better connect with today’s generation.”
And like most everyone in the U.S. national security community, he wants an improved shipbuilding industry. And he said he’d do so by advocating “for a more agile, accountable and flexible shipbuilding strategy by streamlining procurement, enhancing budget flexibility, strengthening partnerships with the defense industrial base, and holding contractors accountable for cost and schedule overruns.” Phelan also vowed to “drive operational modernization by leveraging emerging technologies, enhancing warfighter training through AI and simulation, and fostering a culture that prioritizes adaptability and mission effectiveness over rigid compliance.”
And for the challenges posed by China, for which recently-fired Navy chief Adm. Lisa Franchetti had proposed a tech-driven strategy called “Project 33,” Phelan vowed to “prioritize accelerating the development of a lethal, modernized naval force capable of countering China’s challenges across the conflict spectrum,” and to “focus on fleet modernization, maintenance, and sustainment to ensure readiness for prolonged conflict, if necessary.” He also said he would review “logistics capabilities in support of maritime and joint operations, and [address] any gaps found.”
Related reading: “Navy’s ‘Risk Averse’ Culture Hampering Shipbuilding, Ship Repair, Says Panel to HASC,” U.S. Naval Institute News reported Wednesday after an industry-focused hearing in the House.
The Army is trying to meet its recruiting numbers this year, but its new program for overweight applicants is medically under-staffed, according to a new Defense Department inspector general report (PDF). “This occurred, in part, because [Army Training Center and Fort Jackson] leadership did not assign medical resources, such as registered dietitians, to the program until May 2024, 22 months after the program started, because of medical personnel shortages across the entire Army,” the report reads.
What’s more, “The Army has been recruiting applicants who far exceed its body fat standards,” Military-dot-com writes off the IG report. Whereas “The normal Army standard is up to 26% body fat for men and 36% for women,” the Army’s preparatory course allowed applicants to be as much as 8% over those standards. However, “the inspector general found that 14% of 1,100 trainees between February and May 2024 far exceeded even those expanded limits.”
Worth noting: “Trainees have been allowed to join at up to 19% above the standard—meaning some male recruits may have had body fat percentages as high as 45% and female recruits reaching 55%, levels that would likely be considered morbidly obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Read on, here.
Additional reading: “Here's why garrison soldiers across the Army are swapping their shoulder patches,” via Task and Purpose reporting Tuesday.
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