Army weapons shake-up backed by Hegseth and other Trump picks
Why it matters: System shocks are exactly that — a shock. Executing them requires support, especially at such a politically volatile moment.
"Fundamentally, they just have a risk tolerance that doesn't match, I think, previous administrations," Secretary Dan Driscoll said at a live Axios event.
"There are a lot of states and congressional districts and lobbyists; there are rational reasons why it exists the way it is today," he said. "Those reasons are just not in the best interest of soldiers."
Friction point: On the materiel chopping block are longtime favorites (Humvee, Apache and the Improved Turbine Engine Program) as well as relative newcomers (M10 Booker).
By the numbers: The Army is expected to save $48 billion over the next five years.
Driscoll told Axios he and others consider comparisons between the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) and Elon Musk's DOGE a compliment.
"I think DOGE is loaded," he added. "You have a lot of people who have these feelings about it."
The intrigue: Both Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George have been working the media circuit since ATI was announced May 1.
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Key Points Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined a vision for the U.S. government to leverage more software across its operations. So far this year, data analytics platforms Palantir Technologies and have been notable beneficiaries in the public sector. Both companies' software is deployed across numerous government agencies, but I see one of these high-flying AI stocks as the clear winner. 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies › When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, chances are investors' thoughts may turn to semiconductors, massive data centers, or cloud computing infrastructure. This is great news for chip powerhouses and hyperscalers like Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Microsoft, Amazon, or Alphabet, but investors could be overlooking emerging opportunities beyond the usual suspects. Enterprise-grade software will become an increasingly vital layer atop the hardware stack. 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Palantir Technologies: The AI darling of the U.S. government Palantir has been at the center of several notable deals with the federal government throughout 2025. In late May, it deepened its relationship with the Department of Defense (DOD) through a $795 million extension featuring its Maven Smart System (MSS). This brought the total value of the MSS program to $1.28 billion, making it a long-term revenue driver. More recently, the company won a deal with the Army reportedly worth up to $10 billion over the next 10 years. Palantir's wins extend beyond the U.S. military as well. The company is building the Immigration Lifecycle Operating System -- often referred to as ImmigrationOS -- for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Signing multiyear billion-dollar deals provides Palantir with high revenue visibility, keeps its customer base sticky, and opens the door to upsell or cross-sell added services down the road. 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Traditional approaches to valuation, such as the price-to-sales ratio (P/S), show that Palantir is the priciest software-as-a-service stock among the businesses in the chart above -- and its valuation expansion means that shares are becoming even more expensive as the stock continues to rally. Palantir is an impressive company that has proved it can deliver on crucial applications, but the stock is historically expensive. I think that investors are better off waiting for a more reasonable entry point and paying a more appropriate price down the road. Should you buy stock in Palantir Technologies right now? Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,106,071!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,070% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 184% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Amazon, Datadog, Microsoft, MongoDB, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, ServiceNow, Snowflake, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks the U.S. Government Is Actively Backing in 2025 was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
