WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has pledged to overhaul the Pentagon's procurement system to make it easier for defence technology startups and commercial innovators to compete for military contracts, arguing that the United States must move faster to keep pace with rapidly evolving security threats.
Speaking at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit on Wednesday (local time), Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the administration was dismantling bureaucratic barriers that had long favoured established defence contractors while making it difficult for emerging companies to enter the military marketplace.
"Our bureaucracy was built to keep most of you out," Hegseth told an audience of defence executives, investors and technology entrepreneurs. "We've been waging a war of attrition against the Pentagon bureaucracy to open up the aperture and make sure competition and speed and innovation and commercial options have a seat at the table."
He said the administration wanted procurement decisions to move "at the speed of business and competition and speed and scale" rather than through lengthy government processes.
"You shouldn't have to sue your way in to the Department of War, which is what companies in the past have had to do in order to compete," Hegseth said.
President Donald Trump echoed that message, saying defence companies had repeatedly told him that regulatory reforms had dramatically improved the business environment.
"I was shaking hands backstage, they just came up, and they said, we couldn't even function two years ago in this country," Trump said. "We couldn't get anything built. We couldn't get approvals, we couldn't do anything, and now we've never... we cannot imagine the change."
The summit featured more than 130 exhibitors representing defence technology firms specialising in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, robotics, advanced manufacturing and aerospace technologies.
Investor Antonio Gracias said the changes were already producing results.
"We are literally seeing an environment in change at the DOD that is allowing these companies to accelerate and unleashing American entrepreneurship in the defence area," Gracias said.
Thomas Tull, Co-Chairman of TWG Global, said the new policy direction had encouraged billions of dollars in private investment.
"We've invested billions of dollars in defence tech because we know that we need it," Tull said. "Without the change that you're causing, these things aren't possible."
Hegseth said reforming defence procurement was essential because technological advances were reshaping modern warfare.
"AI and frontier models, autonomy, quantum space, hypersonics -- you name it," he said. "If you're ahead now and you get ahead of the game, you're going to be way ahead. If you fall behind now, you fall even further behind."
The administration also announced nearly $10 billion in new defence-related investments across Pennsylvania, including projects involving shipbuilding, missile production, robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous military systems. Officials said the investments would strengthen the US defence industrial base while expanding opportunities for both established manufacturers and emerging technology companies.
For years, the Pentagon has faced criticism that its acquisition system is too slow and too heavily weighted towards traditional prime contractors, making it difficult for smaller technology companies to secure defence contracts.IANS
