Positive feedback for DoD’s PAE initiative

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July 30, 2026

The current administration is moving quickly to implement such reforms as embracing a modular open systems approach (MOSA) across all programs and enabling faster acquisition of autonomous systems and counterdrone technology. But perhaps its most effective shift – if current sentiment lasts – is the creation of Program Acquisition Executives (PAEs) across the services as a way to prioritize need and speed up decision-making about technology. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in 2025 that the Pentagon was reorganizing existing program executive offices (PEOs) into portfolio acquisition executives, according to a DoD release. "The acquisition chain of authority will run directly from the program manager to the PAE," he said. "Each PAE will be the single accountable official for portfolio outcomes and have the authority to act without running through months or even years of approval chains. And they'll be held accountable to deliver results."

Hegseth went on to say in the announcement that PAEs will have the authority to make decisions on “cost, schedule, and performance trade-offs that prioritize time to field and mission outcomes.” 

“The acquisition reform that introduced the PAE architecture, I think all of my industry colleagues would agree, has been a very positive change,” Bill Guyan, SVP, Business Development & President, International, Leonardo DRS, told me during a chat at Eurosatory in Paris this summer. “The ability to empower somebody with the ability to make trade-off decisions about budgets and about requirements [is critical]. These new PEAs can make decisions about moving money between budget lines. They can make decisions about trading off between requirements and [funding].

“It used to be you had one set of people that were requirements guys, you had another set of guys that were buyers, another set of guys that were testers, another set of guys that were the logisticians,” Guyan continues. “They didn't always talk to each other, and any one of them could stop the train, for some legitimate process reason. They could say no, that's not right, doesn't pass the test, or that's not right, it doesn't meet my requirement, [etc.]. The PAE can say, okay, I heard you all, but I'm making this decision because this is good enough, we'll fix the rest of it later. The PAE development is really important and making a big difference.”

Guyan added that the U.S. Army is a leader in this area with the Air Force and Navy also implementing a PAE structure. “Army arguably had the biggest problem to fix,” Guyan notes. “They have such a wide portfolio of things that they're trying to do, and the hard decisions of trade-offs and modernization were getting stuck. So, the Army helped itself by being first, and we're seeing, as an Army supplier, a lot of fixes that come as a result of that.”

According to a U.S. Army release the new Army PAE construct includes:

• Maneuver Air (PEO Aviation, Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO)).
• Maneuver Ground (PEO Soldier, PEO Combat Support and Combat Service Support (CS&CSS), PEO Ground Combat Systems (GCS)).
• Fires (PEO GCS, PEO Missiles and Space (M&S), Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition (JPEO A&A), RCCTO).
• Agile Sustainment and Ammo (JPEO A&A).
• Layered Protection and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Command and Control (JPEO for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (CBRND), PEO Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (IEW&S)).
• Counter Command and Control (PEO for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (STRI), PEO IEW&S, PEO Command, Control, Communications and Network (C3N)).

As another example of positive acquisition moves within the DoD, Guyan noted the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401), which was set up in the summer of 2025 to develop counter-uncrewed aerial system (UAS) technology for defending the U.S. homeland. “They've released a catalog, [which] anybody can buy from, and they're starting to release IDIQ contracts to suppliers, which will allow anybody to buy through this commercial approach,” he says.

According to the DoD, JIATF 401 will consider technologies such as “microwave, directed-energy, kinetic interventions, radio-frequency detection and jamming capabilities, radar, acoustic sensing, and advanced optical tracking.”

“The Secretary of the Army was here [at Eurosatory] to sign an agreement with eight other allied countries, giving them access to that catalog as well,” Guyan added.

For more on my discussion with Guyan at Eurosatory on counter-UAS technology, click here.