MARCH 11, 2025 – Without a modern approach to software acquisition, the Defense Department risks falling behind adversaries who are better able to exploit rapid technological advances and outpace American capabilities.
Defense Department leaders recognize outdated, bureaucratic processes have slowed the delivery of cutting edge software to warfighters, leaving critical department systems vulnerable to adaptation by enemies.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s memo, “Directing Modern Software Acquisition to Maximize Lethality,” issued March 6, 2025, aims to reverse this trend.
“Software is at the core of every weapon and supporting system we field to remain the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” Hegseth stated in the memo.
By mandating the software acquisition pathway, also called SWP, and flexible contracting tools like commercial solutions openings and other transactions, DOD is cutting red tape to deliver software faster and tap into commercial innovation — ensuring warfighters stay ahead.
Unlike traditional acquisition — that emphasizes rigid, hardware-focused timelines — the SWP aligns with modern software development, delivering minimum viable products in under a year.
Commercial solutions openings and other transactions open doors to nontraditional vendors, bypassing lengthy requirements. Where past processes might have locked DOD into a single, slow vendor pipeline, the new approach prototypes quickly, scales solutions, and fields them directly to the battlespace — adapting before adversaries can respond.
With the memo now in effect, DOD has 30 days to craft an implementation plan. The tight timeline is a reflection of Hegseth’s urgency.
The software pathway program is less than a year to [minimum viable product] from when funds are obligated, a senior defense official said last week during a background briefing. That official also said more work lies ahead to fully integrate those tools across the enterprise.
The defense innovation unit, a key player in this shift, has already proven the model.
Since 2016, DIU has awarded more than 500 other transactions using the commercial solutions openings process, 88% of those contracts went to nontraditional vendors, a second official said.
A recent success, that official said, is the Replicator software project that moved from problem statement to award in just 110 days, a pace the official said was “much faster than traditional ways.”
Over the next month, DIU and the department will finalize how to scale SWP across all DOD components. To make that effort successful, the department will focus on two priorities: training the workforce and broadening access.
“They’re getting practical experience by sitting alongside our team and actually working … which we think is what’s needed to get everybody up to speed,” another official said of the immersive commercial acquisition program.
“We can expose the software programs to nontraditional and commercial software developers, while we simultaneously lower the barrier for those … to get into defense programs of record,” that official said.
If efforts lag, DOD risks missing the secretary’s vision to rapidly deliver scaled digital capabilities and evolve systems faster than adversaries can adapt.
Security is nonnegotiable in the new software acquisition overhaul, and one department official said the process encourages acquisition officials to “bake cybersecurity, and really all compliance requirements, into their delivery pipeline.”
By leveraging enterprise services, DOD ensures new software meets rigorous standards without slowing progress — protecting both systems and the warfighters who rely on them.
The new reform effort isn’t just about faster software — it’s about empowering those on the front lines. When DOD struggles to reframe its acquisition process from a hardware-centric approach to a software-centric approach, “the warfighter … pays the price,” Hegseth stated in his memo.
From real-time intelligence to autonomous systems, modern software delivered swiftly means better decisions, stronger defenses, and a decisive edge in contested environments.
As DOD races to implement the secretary’s directive, the stakes are high.
“Software-defined warfare is not a future construct, but the reality we find ourselves operating in today,” one official said.
With the SWP, commercial solutions openings, and other transactions now mandatory, the department is poised to turn that reality into a warfighter advantage — delivering lethality at the speed of innovation.
By C. Todd Lopez and Army Maj. Wes Shinego, DOD News