Breaking down Hegseth’s major announcements from his ‘State of the Force’ address

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced several new initiatives during his “State of the Force” address on Wednesday, ranging from ensuring every U.S. military base has the capability to power itself during attacks to the intent to establish a new autonomous-specific four-star functional combatant command.The secretary outlined the various plans to roughly 600 active-duty E-6s and O-3s at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Wednesday afternoon. His address lasted a little under an hour and largely began with many of the same criticisms of the media and previous Pentagon leaders that he frequently repeats.While the projects are certainly ambitious, there are serious questions over how the Pentagon, already in a budget standoff with Congress, is going to fund them — while others have potential religious freedom questions hanging over them. Project Agincourt, Autonomous warfare command, and long-term planning Hegseth announced Project Agincourt — a reference to a battle in which English forces defeated French adversaries in 1415 despite being outnumbered — which will essentially transition the department’s efforts to innovate and mass-produce autonomous systems into a new four-star functional combatant command called Autonomous Warfare Command.Under Hegseth, the department has quickly pushed to develop, modernize, and innovate new ways to harness the power of autonomous systems, which include drones of all shapes and sizes, and artificial intelligence to enhance those capabilities.He stood up the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 for counter-drone homeland defense last year, and in July, he consolidated the War Department’s unmanned and autonomous systems under a new Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems.Owen West was the director of the Defense Innovation Unit but has stepped down following his selection to be the manager for the DRPM-UxS. West was also appointed, Hegseth announced during his speech, to lead Project Agincourt. Navy SEAL Senior Chief Max Strasiser will also lead the effort, and Hegseth said the duo will have a “CEO, COO partnership.”A related memo from Hegseth detailing the policy notes that the department will need to work with Congress to pass necessary legislation with the target of establishing the combatant command exactly one year from Thursday, Oct. 1, 2027.A U.S. Marine service member stands next to a TRV 150 drone during a military exercise in Gotland, Sweden, Monday, May 11, 2026. (Emma Burrows/AP Photo) “I think we owe the Pentagon’s leadership great credit for tackling this head-on,” retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro told the Washington Examiner. “My view is, drones, robots, and autonomous systems, they’re changing the character of warfare, but responsibility for developing and deploying them is distributed still. Now they’re trying to fix that. So his decision to establish this four-star autonomous warfare command with service-like authorities recognizes this mission requires dedicated leadership, resources, expertise, and career paths of its own.”Hegseth also announced a new initiative, Project Meridian, which will focus on developing a long-term strategy for the future of warfare. The Department of War’s Chief Technology Officer, Emil Michael, is leading the project from the department side, while it will be co-directed by Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich.New domestic US base and self-sufficient bases Hegseth also announced that the department intends to build a new military base domestically and encouraged governors to apply to host it.During his address, he said, “If your state wants the honor of hosting 15,000-25,000 of America’s great troops, show us why and how you’re going to do it. Cutting through the red tape, offering up the land, and rolling out the red carpet for our military families.”His memo titled, “Next Great American Base Site Selection and Development Process,” said the new base would “counter multi-domain threats and maintain strategic deterrence,” by “rapidly establish[ing] a new, highly hardened joint military installation within the Homeland. This installation will serve as a foundational hub for integrated defense operations, distributed command-and-control, and resilient cyber and technological capabilities.”It’s unclear what exact capabilities or space the department will seek, but Punaro believes the details will be needed for governors to put together their best proposals.“I think the DoD is going to have to explain to the governors, what is the mission of the base? What are the activities that are going to be on the base?” Punaro, who previously served as the staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said. “I think governors will be enthusiastic about this once they know what the mission and what the requirements are, and then you’ll have a better feel.”Going through the whole process and constructing the base would take years, not months, Punaro predicted.There are also questions about how bases can and should be hardened to defend against new types of attacks. Several U.S. bases in the Middle East have been damaged by Iranian drone and missile attacks, and multiple U.S. aircraft have been damaged not during flight, but while grounded at these facilities.Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Ken Wilsbach recently told reporters that the service can “blow” up any hardened facilities that are still above ground, and making a facility “impervious to an attack” would require building it “two or three hundred feet underground.”During his address, Hegseth also announced FORTRESS America, an acronym for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability. The goal of the initiative is for each U.S. base to be self-powered so that U.S. forces would not be impeded if U.S. civilian infrastructure were damaged in a conflict.In August, the Army announced it would be installing advanced nuclear reactors at five bases. Contracts to own, construct, and operate these five reactors came out to a combined $2.2 billion. Officials said at the time that they expected to build more than 20 nuclear microreactors across military installations over the next several years.Congress controls government funding, and as a result, many of these projects will come down to whether Congress will appropriate the funds needed for them. Hegseth has a tenuous relationship with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and a very sour one with Democrats, predating his tenure as secretary. The department is already seeking a $1.5 trillion defense budget, $350 billion of which is contained in a separate reconciliation bill. It also wants Congress to pass a nearly $90 billion supplemental package, the majority of which would go to the Pentagon to pay for the costs of the Iran war.The midterm elections, in which one or both chambers of Congress could flip, could ultimately play a major role in whether these projects get the funding needed to get started.Corps of Cadets and a new religious office Hegseth, an outspoken Evangelical Christian, also unveiled the Office of Religious Affairs, a direct-report office to the secretary of war charged with driving department-wide policy and resource advocacy.“This is not going to be a paper-pushing shop. It’s going to have a real team. They’ll protect budgets, demand infrastructure, and strengthen religious support. The experts, our chaplains, will finally have an advocate at the highest level,” he said during his address. “Our national motto is, after all, ‘In God we trust.’ Today we reaffirm that trust. We’re placing spiritual health at the same level as physical health. Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual.”It’s unclear exactly how the office will tangibly affect the actions of the chaplaincies of the military departments.Hegseth referenced his faith multiple times during his “State of the Force” address. Under his tenure, the department has begun holding a monthly prayer ceremony.He also ousted Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s chief of chaplains, in April 2026. Green began his tenure in the position in 2023, with his term expected to last four years until 2027.Hegseth’s frequent expression of religion has raised questions from religious freedom advocates, who are concerned that the secretary could be pushing his own religion within the military ranks.Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser said in a statement: “For more than 250 years, the military and its chaplains have served the diverse religious and spiritual needs of all our service members. Hegseth’s new plan upends this to the detriment of all who serve.INSIDE THE ROOM FOR HEGSETH’S ‘STATE OF THE FORCE’ ADDRESS“It’s yet another example of Hegseth abusing the power of his government position to impose his beliefs on others – and worse, it puts the needs of America’s service members second to this administration’s Christian Nationalist agenda.”The secretary has also attacked several universities that had long-standing partnerships with the department, and has ended many of those relationships. On Wednesday, he announced a new program called America’s Corps of Cadets, in which the department would now partner with Louisiana State University, Liberty University, Tuskegee University, Mississippi State University, and Hillsdale College.