Last week, Secretary Pete Hegseth told Senate lawmakers that the United States continues to deplete stockpiles of ordnance due to the conflict with Iran, and acknowledged that the replacement timeframe depends on the specific weapon. On Sunday, Senator Mark Kelly said in an interview with CBS News’ Face the Nation that the United States has gone “deep” into its inventory of Patriot missiles, THAAD systems, and other advanced ordnance.
It could take months or even years for the Pentagon to replace the munitions.
To address the issue, the Department of the Navy established a new office to develop and “provide focused, enterprise -level acquisition strategies, prioritization, and execution to accelerate the delivery of munitions to the warfighter urgently,” the service announced on Monday.
The Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Munitions was created to be a direct extension of the Department of the Navy’s broader effort to strengthen the country’s munitions industrial base. The goal of which is to accelerate production capacity and improve enterprise-level alignment of key ordnance programs.
“There is a singular focus across the Department of War on the munitions industrial base and scaling up critical munitions programs,” said Jason Potter, who is performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RDA).
“We’re seeing results as deliveries of key components and munitions rise above contract rates for the first time in several years,” added Potter during remarks to the Acquisition Research Symposium & Innovation Summit at the Naval Post Graduate School.
The department has said that the PAE model will be the “new operational standard for the naval acquisition enterprise,” able to inject urgency and offer “a relentless focus” on delivery speed for the much-needed ordnance.
The Four Pillars of Comprehensive Management
The department plans to organize PAE Munitions into four pillars to ensure comprehensive management. This includes the Weapons Industrial Base, the network of public and private organizations, facilities, and resources used to research, develop, produce, and maintain military weapon systems, components, and supplies for a nation’s armed forces; Air Weapons, Surface Weapons; and Advanced Capabilities and Innovation.
“To streamline execution, the new construct concentrates munitions development from across the Navy and Marine Corps and combines program offices,” the department added.
The former Program Executive Office Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons:
- Precision Strike Weapons (PMA-201)
- Aerial Targets Program (PMA-208)
- Direct and Time Sensitive Strike Program (PMA-242)
- Air-to-Air Missiles Program (PMA-259)
- Tomahawk Weapons System Program (PMA-280)
- Strike Planning and Execution Systems Program (PMA-281)
The former Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS):
- Surface Ship Weapons (3.0)
- Terminal Defense System (11.0)
- NATO Seasparrow Program (12.0)
- Note: Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) from the Missile Defense Agency is expected to transition to production and sustainment in FY2028.
Paul Mann, interim at PAE Munitions, said that it will be necessary to “relentlessly execute programs and drive significantly faster production rates of effective, high quantity, affordable munitions for our operational forces,” calling upon better deals with industry, and ensuring a robust supply chain.
“Our ability to simultaneously negotiate win-win deals with our industrial partners, drive supply chain planning and execution, leverage state-of-the-art manufacturing and materials science, and eliminate non-value impediments to speed must become cultural,” said Mann. “We must adapt faster than our adversaries and directly enable CNO Fighting Instructions and our National Defense Strategy.”
One of Three PAE Organizations
In addition to PAE Munitions, the Department of the Navy also announced that it was establishing PAE Aviation and PAE Mission Systems to accelerate the delivery of capability to the fleet.
As noted, Mann was named to head PAE Munitions, while PAE Aviation will be headed by Vice Adm. John Dougherty, and PAE Mission Systems by Jim Day. Each is serving in an interim role.
“The needs of the warfighter demand that our acquisition system move faster to outpace the threat,” explained Potter.
He said that establishing these PAEs today will accelerate acquisition efforts across three key portfolios.
“We are empowering these officials to move out and deliver for the fleet,” Potter added. “With these authorities, we are removing barriers that slowed down capability delivery. We are also doing away with fragmented accountability. Each PAE is accountable for mission outcomes across their entire portfolio.”
The PAE is intended as an evolution of the previous Program Executive Officer (PEO) construct, with PAEs possessing a broader scope and authority. Each of the three PAEs will be responsible for an entire portfolio of “like programs” and will be charged with direct authority not only over program offices but also over associated technical, contracting, and sustainment functions.
According to the department, approximately 70% of these functions and associated personnel will move from systems commands (SYSCOMs) into the PAEs.
“This is not just a name change, but a critical step toward streamlining and simplifying the Navy’s acquisition process,” said Adm. Jim Kilby, Vice Chief of Naval Operations. “The three new PAEs are designed to align authority and accountability, reduce process overhead, equip program managers to execute more effectively, and deliver operational capability to the Navy and Marine Corps with speed and scale.”
The sentiment was shared by Gen. Bradford J. Gering, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, who said that the PAEs align with the Corps’ commitment to getting Marines what they need with the speed and flexibility demanded by the modern security environment.
“We have empowered our PAEs with broad authorities and cradle-to-grave oversight of portfolios,” said Gering. “This combination will eliminate obstacles and accelerate the delivery of capabilities to our Marines at the speed of relevance.”
