On November 7, 2025, Secretary Hegseth released three memoranda signaling a wholesale restructuring of DoW procurement. The Warfighting Acquisition System directive mandates the Software Acquisition Pathway as the default for software programs, prioritizes Commercial Solutions Openings and Other Transactions, and demands faster timelines from requirement to contract. The 2026 NDAA codified many of these reforms into law.

The following is the Defense Department’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy, released Nov. 7, 2025. 

From the Report

Introduction

The Defense Department is rapidly transforming our antiquated acquisition processes and revitalizing the atrophied Defense Industrial Base (DIB) by prioritizing speed, flexibility, and rigorous execution. The Defense Secretary has placed the Department on a war footing, and the Warfighting Acquisition System (WAS) is aligning with urgency and velocity, balancing speed with rigor in execution to ensure we rapidly deliver relevant and effective solutions at scale to address warfighting needs. Executive Order (E.O.) 14265, Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Industrial Base, directed the Department to prepare this strategy, consistent with President Trump’s direction to transform the current defense acquisition system to ensure delivery of capabilities to the American warfighter at pace to deter and, if necessary, defeat our adversaries.

Read on USNI News »