US military replaces 20% of generals with AI drone command as Hegseth targets 'woke' officers
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is remodelling the US military in his vision, and apparently, that vision is through the eyes of a robot. President Donald Trump continues to try and prove he's down with the kids as the most tech-savvy president yet, but more than just filling his Truth Social feed with AI slop videos of himself saving the world or renaming various landmarks to put 'America' in them, he's announced a slew of AI deals and AI-centric executive orders.
While some might've balked at his announcement of a $500 billion AI deal to build data centers in our backyard, this was just the tip of the iceberg. We've seen AI become ever more commonplace in the daily running of the government, with Donald Trump even rebranding it as 'superintelligence'.
He recently held a massive AI summit with some of the world's richest people, and as the various tech bros continue to cuddle up to the POTUS, there are concerns about how AI is being implemented in the military.
What is Pete Hegseth's drone command?
According to NBC News, Hegseth's dramatic 'State of the Force' address confirmed he's establishing a new drone command that will cut 20% of the country's generals and admirals. Speaking to junior officers and enlisted leaders at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, the Defense Secretary reiterated that he wants to retool the US military by targeting 'woke' culture. This involves the scrapping of diversity programs, reviewing ground combat units with female staff, and a new screening program that will look for 'testosterone deficiency' in male personnel.
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Acknowledging that "the pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it," Hegseth noted that Iran frequently uses cheap drones instead of actual soldiers.
He also highlighted Ukraine's high-tech use of drones in the war with Russia, now planning to unleash his own drone command: "Ukraine’s lesson is not that one type of drone wins wars, but rather the need for a purpose-built system that maximizes the ability to adapt."
A new four-star command will oversee the creation of this drone force during what Hegseth dubbed "the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.”
Despite Hegseth's grand ambitions, we're reminded that a drone-centric U.S. Army unit in Europe was recently shuttered and returned to a traditional infantry battalion.
All of this comes as the Strait of Hormuz continues to be a hotly contested strip of territory, and the U.S. Army has been forced to unleash expensive missile interceptors to try and defend against Iran's missile and drone attacks.
Still, this has come at the cost of many U.S. troops' lives.
Even though Hegseth maintains America has destroyed Iran’s navy, air force, and defense systems, the U.S. military is still being bombarded by drone and missile attacks.
More than just dealing with the situation in Iran, Hegseth is looking ahead by doubling the planned 10% reduction he ordered in spring 2025 and said: "I call it accountability and long overdue."
Taking the war to space
Hegseth also outlined his plan to create an Office of Religious Affairs and plans for the first new base in 40 years.
Critics of Hegseth's grand plans have questioned how easy they will be to implement, with former Navy combat pilot Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz adding: "He’s got some kind of like deep-seated grievance about leadership in the military.
"He’s purging a generation of great leaders of the military, and it’s going to take a generation to recover from it.”
South Dakota's Republican Sen. Mike Rounds is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also questioned the Defense Secretary's reasoning: "If it’s simply a matter of eliminating a very heavy top, there may be some validity to it, but I want to see it first."
Elsewhere, we're once again shooting for the stars as the world's richest man will look into space warfare. In a joint effort by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Hegseth has tasked the pair with analyzing how future wars could take place in space. This emphasis comes after President Trump recently raised eyebrows with a whole host of AI posts championing Space Force as some sort of Star Wars-inspired unit that will be able to operate from bases in outer space.
Hegseth wants to focus on "discovering, developing and fielding the weapons and systems that our children and our grandchildren will need in their lifetimes," reiterating a need to dominate "any future battlefield, from under the Earth to beyond the Moon.”
All of this as the USA claims it has deployed weapons in space for the first time in October 2026.