Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Speech on the Arsenal of Freedom in Dayton, Ohio (As Delivered)

SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: Well, what a great looking group.

Well, good afternoon. First of all, Eren and Fatih, thank you so much. Thank you for those remarks. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for being there at Fort McNair. Thank you for hearing the message. Thank you for responding the way we need our innovators and our manufacturers to do for leading the way. It's an honor to be here today.

And Senator Moreno, thank you for those remarks. You've - Ohio has no better leader than Senator Moreno and what he does in backing up the War Department and backing up President Trump. He displays courage on a daily basis. And Senator, I'm grateful for you. Thank you very much.

It's an absolute honor to be here in Dayton, intentionally on purpose. And I know we've got this great crew here, and then I see all of you out there in virtual land. I'm staring right at you. I see you. Thank you all for joining. There's - there we go. We got some hand waves. It's great to see all of you where you are investing in this company as well.

I also want to extend a special thanks to Rep. Warren Davidson, who I've known for quite some time. Warren, where are you, if you're here? Right there. Himself - Army Ranger. Please.

Committed to our troops, committed to industry, committed to fiscal responsibility. In fact, he has made sure - helped us ensure that fiscal responsibility is front and center in how we run the War Department. I'm going to talk a little bit today about how we run a different type of department, but that starts in partnership with our industry partners like the Sierra Nevada Corporation.

You see, we've gone around the country in this Arsenal of Freedom Tour, meeting with great companies and innovators and sending the signal to our great companies and our innovators who are - when they are unleashed, they're allowed to run fast. That the Department of War is open for business, not for show, not for peacetime, but with urgency and for victory. A lasting victory, one that will secure the freedoms that we so cherish for generations to come, not just for me, not just for you, but for my kids and your kids and my grandkids and your grandkids. It's that kind of generational investment.

Certainly, in this 250th anniversary, we have to recognize that we stand on the shoulders of generations of Americans who, if they weren't carrying a rifle, they were manufacturing the tools that went into industry, from wars at home to wars abroad, to ensure that peace was preserved through strength.

Now, I just had a chance to tour Sierra Nevada's facilities firsthand. What an impressive display of scale and precision in engineering. Truly American industry at its best. And that's the entire purpose of the Arsenal of Freedom Tour. It's not simply the beautiful, exquisite systems that are made. But it's to look the patriots in the eye who build our nation's arsenal and simply thank you for the work that you do. And I want you to know that the army of veterans and warriors that you support, you are shoulder to shoulder with them in ensuring they can be effective on all of our behalf.

You see, today Sierra Nevada Corporation was not simply wished into existence. We're not here by happenstance. It didn't appear out of thin air. It's just like I talk to our troops a lot about how we're in the 1775 business, not the 1776 business, because you can declare whatever you want. And we declared, boldly and bravely, independence in 1776, and we're all inheritors of that courage. But it took men with rifles on bridges in 1775 to say we will fight for that declaration. We will fight for those rights.

So, we can talk about wanting to have industry or wanting to scale, or wanting open architecture, or wanting the next generation, but what exists in this hangar was not gifted, it was forged. It was forged by labor, by expertise, and by the sheer willpower of each of you standing here today and joining us online.

Because one thing is crystal clear. Washington, DC, the folks that operate there, the lobbyists, political types, well, they don't understand what you do. They couldn't do a day in your shoes. You know, the finger in the wind crowd, they don't know what it means to build what you build.

You see, before President Trump instilled the kind of urgency in American manufacturing and our defense industrial base, Washington was full of folks who were - understood the art of sitting back and collecting a paycheck and leeching off the labor that built this great country of ours, producing nothing, building nothing. Worse than that, Washington was content to outsource our jobs, outsource our supply chains, outsource our industrial base in the name of globalism or anti-American trade agreements.

You see, President Trump stood up boldly, both in 2016 and two years ago, and said I reject this failed status quo, that we need Americans who still roll up their sleeves and build. And you are those very builders of that very arsenal that guarantees our freedoms. You see, it's not just the metal and the might, but it's also the connectivity, because the future of warfare is different.

We just launched a Future of Warfare initiative at the Department of War called Project Meridian. And what we do know from the outset is it demands all-domain connectivity and rapid technological advances on the edge. Which is what we've made a priority at the War Department to ensure that our warfighters dominate every echelon, every domain of the battlefield. Whoever controls subsea and cislunar is going to destroy and control the next fight.

And that's why it's critical that we don't rely on any other country or any other supply chain in providing that, and that's why the Arsenal of Freedom is American made. It's American manufactured. It's American jobs. It's American muscle. It's American power. It's these great American citizens in front of me.

Because if we don't prepare now, we will not win in the future, and that's why we established the department's Autonomous Warfare Command. I recently announced that at our state of the force address in Quantico, Virginia, laying out the future of a four-star combatant command with service like authorities that'll ensure that we are organized to fight on the edge in the contested environment today and in the future, using joint robotics capabilities, super intelligence, scaling critical unmanned systems across every domain.

And what I saw today at Sierra Nevada, at SNC, is a company that can and will lead the way in helping the War Department lead in that domain. Because it is all-domain dominance, which, includes survivability and electronic communications capabilities in highly contested and mobile environments. You see, in the past, threat mitigation required slow, long procurement cycles and traditional rigid defense systems that left our troops vulnerable on fixed and known sites, too slow, too rigid. Quite simply, it's not going to work.

And you have a history of adapting. For example, during the height of the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, our troops faced, as you know, an asymmetric threat from improvised explosive devices, IEDs. Moving at the speed of those conflicts, SNC rapidly developed lifesaving devices to counter and disable roadside bombs, roadside IEDs, scaling from early R&D to active production in just two years to deliver capabilities when our warfighters needed them most.

Now, in a building where things take ten years, two years was lightspeed. Many of our warriors came home because of the innovation championed by the people here today and this corporation. And you all should be, and I know your leadership are proud of that feat.

But examples like that cannot be the exception on the modern battlefield. They have to be the rule. That's why we've declared from the beginning we're in a nonstop war of attrition with the Pentagon bureaucracy, with our own building, to cut the red tape, to speed up the processes, to ensure that you can run fast in every - to ensure that what our warfighter needs arrives when they need it, before they need it, not after.

I mean, Bob Gates famously fought for an MRAP that took him years and years to field while the warfighters needed it. Two years cannot be the rule. It needs to be - cannot be the exception. It needs to be the rule. And then it can't be two years. It's gotta be one, and it's got to be six months or faster. It's gotta be something that arrives in 2027 or 2028, not 2032 or 2034.

We live on timelines today that require speed and scale, and that's why we trust you with our nation's most vital assets, which is why you're constructing the next generation Survivable Airborne Operations Center, the very aircraft platform that I'm standing in front of today. In a doomsday scenario, SAOC provides the president with unbreakable command and control. No other nation on planet earth has these types of capabilities, serving as our nation's ultimate insurance policy in a no fail mission.

Now, I could go on and on about the systems I saw today. I'll mention just one. The BRAWLR Air Defense System and the MAAWLR also proving highly effective in active, high threat combat environments, again speed and adapting on the edge, open architecture prepared to integrate. Today, our combatant commanders are employing BRAWLER and MAAWLR to shield our forces from asymmetric attacks in at least two critical theaters.

And at the exact same time, we're taking our legacy aircraft, which is such an important aspect of what I saw today, and turning them into connected weapons systems. SNC is partnering with the Air Force to quickly turn existing transport planes into flying communications platforms that can transmit secure data over any available signal, even when an enemy is attempting to jam those communications.

Your contributions are marking the end of slow moving, bureaucratic procurement models and the beginning of rapid, dominant and combat fielded and tested American firepower. And what's pretty cool, and it was mentioned previously, is that you're not just made in America. You're also made by some of America's best.

More than a third - almost a third of SNC's workforce are veterans, transitioning skilled American workers into cutting edge national security manufacturing, the next chapter of purpose, still serving, from camouflage, from helmets to hardhats. You see, we are rebuilding the American industrial base led by those who served and empowered by America's skilled workers, just like you. I want you to know, from the halls of the Pentagon, we are profoundly grateful for the work that you do day in and day out.

I can't tell you the joy that I receive when I see a program's moved up, moved left by a month or by three months, or we've saved six months in time or we're going to get this in Q3 of 2027 instead of Q2 of 2028. It's exactly - it's a demonstration to the warfighters that we share the urgency that they share, that we're going to make sure they have what they need when they need it.

Again, American workers, American supply chains, American jobs, American manufacturing, made in the USA, a renaissance in our industrial base that is long overdue, all brought to you by a president who has, from his first day in office, operated on three principles of pure, unadulterated common sense. First, a leader's duty is to put his or hers American citizens and America first. America and Americans first.

Second, that the surest and only real path to peace is peace through strength. You want prosperity? You want peace? You want to enjoy football on Saturday and Sunday? Then ensure that you are strong to deter the threats that would challenge the wonderful way of life that we revere here.

And third, a nation that cannot build for itself, a nation that cannot create its own tools, cannot provide for its own defenses or defend its own future, it is a nation in managed decline. It's a nation that thinks history is over. If you can't set the terms of your own defense, of your own manufacturing, then you are simply set adrift across the globe. And I will not mortgage the future of my kids and grandkids hoping that some other country or some other leader takes charge of our defenses. It's gonna to be Americans. It's gonna to be American leadership, and it has to be.

You see, for too long, elites in both parties sat idly by and accepted a backward status quo, but not President Trump. He recognized that decline is, in fact, a choice, a choice that we must fundamentally reject. A choice that, on this Arsenal of Freedom Tour and in this great facility we are, by our very presence and by our very investment, rejecting.

And in doing so, we are unleashing - President Trump is unleashing, a great American revival, a reawakening of our industrial spirit and our national confidence, a new golden age for America that all of you right here are a part of building. We're rebuilding our military with the best equipment and leadership to ensure that our warfighters have every advantage and they're never in a fair fight.

That's why we had a historic trillion dollar budget last year, an investment, and we plan to spend even more in the future. And we're asking for a $1.5 trillion investment to make a generational investment to ensure that we remain the strongest and most powerful military in the world. And those types of investments, by the way, translate directly into high paying jobs for American manufacturers like the Sierra Nevada Corporation.

That's why we have no higher priorities as a department than ensuring that a reconciliation bill, at a minimum of $350 billion but maybe more, is passed as soon as possible, to ensure that all the deals that have been made and arranged, the ways in which we're investing in manufacturing, the priorities of President Trump are actually invested in, that we send that long term demand signal to industry to continue to invest. We're committed to it, but we're also committed to doing it in a way that showcases we're a different kind of department.

You know, the Department of Defense and now Department of War has never passed an audit, never, even though Congress has mandated that we pass an audit. In this administration in our building before 2028, we will pass a full audit of the Department of War to know where every dime is coming from.

The Department of War is kicking the door wide open for commercial disrupters, nontraditional innovators, and venture backed builders. We are actively creating the next generation of defense prime contractors. It can't just be five, five that make great platforms and great systems and are quite exquisite, and we rely on a lot of them. We would be remiss if we didn't leave this job with five more or ten more or 15 more, all competing for business at the Department of War.

Our Arsenal of Freedom Tour reinforces how modern deterrence requires, is built upon, commercial scale and commercial speed. And that's why, as I mentioned, we're delivering predictable demand signals to industry so that you can hyper scale production and dominate the future battlefield. You see, this isn't just about asking you to run one more shift.

I wish all Americans could - could be in the Oval Office and watch the president behind the Resolute Desk look at defense companies and tell them I don't want one more shift. I want a new plant. I want two new - two new plants. I want three new plants. I want 3X, 4X, 5X more. And as a result, companies are investing in their plants and in their people. And when they do so, we invest in them.

You see, we've totally changed the curve of how the department does business. If you want to do business with us invest. Invest in new plants and new equipment and in your people, demonstrating that you can make, for years and years, this capability that we require for our warfighters, and then we will cut you a deal for five to seven years of orders for that missile or for that platform or for that system.

Now, you can plan in the future in order to invest. And taxpayers save dollars because I'm buying seven years worth of missiles at today's price. Before we would have to pay the companies to encourage them to build their own factories, and then we pay again for the munitions or the systems. Our great deputy secretary, Steve Feinberg, came from the turnaround business. He said we're going to do - we're going to run this department like a business, not a bureaucracy, requiring our great companies to invest in American manufacturing so that we can scale in a way that threats of today and the threats of the future are going to require.

And that brings me to our promise and challenge to every industry leader in this country. It's similar to the challenge I levied a year ago at Fort McNair to the great companies as we announced acquisition reform, that we were going to run fast and scale. The days of rewarding the comfortable old guard for stagnation and for failure are over. We are a much different department than we were just two years ago. President Trump demanded it.

The acquisition reform that we've made, the emphasis on modern technology stacks and open architecture, the way we're working with industry, all centered around the capabilities and speed needed, demanded for the modern battlefield. We are providing, as I said, larger and longer and more predictable contracts to companies so that they can deliver at scale and at pace.

That means more jobs, more reliable jobs, high paying jobs as companies invest in their people. We're going to reward leaders who invest in their workers, who expand their capacity, and who share our utter sense of urgency. It's pretty easy to sit in the hallways of the Pentagon and get complacent.

And what I've demanded of my staff, of my senior leaders, of the joint staff, of our combatant commanders, of everybody, is that we have to share the kind of urgency the men and women on the cutting edge and on the battlefield have. If they need it today, we need to get it to them today. And if we can't get it to them today, we need to get it to them tomorrow. In every single way, on every single domain to ensure that we have every single advantage possible.

We will reward those who choose to deploy their resources toward bolstering production, not stock buyback programs. If you deliver for America, the Department of War will have your back. If you are a company that decides to live yesterday or move at the speed of bureaucracy, we'll make sure that you find somewhere else - we find someone else to work with.

Those days of legacy connections and lobbyists building contract connections because they knew the guy who used to run that department are fundamentally over. I don't care what name is on the side of the plane or on the side of the missile. I want the very best. I want innovators. I want those that can deliver it at cost and ahead of schedule. Urgency, innovation, speed, scale, business not bureaucracy, all made in America, and that's what SNC is doing in Ohio and across our great nation.

Your expertise and efforts help to expand our defense industrial base and ensure absolute dominance. You know, so we have a national defense strategy where we talk about the regions of the world and where we want to focus. It's well publicized. And for the first time in a very long time, the fourth pillar of our national defense strategy is our defense industrial base.

You can talk about defense. You can talk about projecting power. You can talk about priorities. You can talk about allies and partners, and you can talk about deterrence. And those are nice to talk about in faculty lounges, or in universities, or on cable news. But if you don't have the actual things, if you can't actually manufacture, if you can't rely on an industrial base that can produce them, then you're just talking.

And so what - who you are, what you do, and what you build is quite literally the foundation of whether or not peace through strength is maintained. Frankly, it has the added value also of bringing high paying, high demand jobs right where you live as well.

As you know, our American warriors are second to none. The best in the world and the best of our country. In fact, I just arrived back from a trip to Central Command, and got to meet with pilots and refuelers and maintainers that are out there on the frontlines, have been doing historic work in ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. To look them in the eyes is to look the best of our country in the eyes.

I'll tell you what, I see that same gleam in the eyes of many of you, the determination to say what can I do? How can I contribute? Well, I can't - I can't do every part of every mission, but I can do my part to ensure this system or this platform delivers and delivers sooner. We're all part of the same fight, truly shoulder to shoulder. You stand behind them in their pursuit of their historic mission.

So, while our warriors are on the tip of the spear, you are the ones that help sharpen them. All the strategies from the Pentagon, as I said, meaningless without the people on the floor, the technicians, the machinists, the fabricators, the engineers, the IT professionals. With every platform you weld and wire and assemble, it gives our warfighters the decisive edge to win and ultimately return home safely. Never forget that direct line that you have to them on the frontlines.

So, what we see here at SNC is the blueprint for a restored American golden age of manufacturing and warfighting, which, whether you like it or not, will be required to secure freedom for 250 more years. Under the decisive leadership of President Trump, this administration remains unwavering in our commitment to the warfighter, our industrial base, and national sovereignty, which is why the first thing we did was secure the southwest border. Knowing who's here and prioritizing American citizens.

We build faster, we scale larger, and we deliver overwhelming capability, ensuring that we have unmatched industrial muscle and absolute military strength. As always, as President Trump expects, we will put America first. We will achieve peace through strength. We will apply common sense, and we will never apologize.

God bless you. God bless our troops and our great republic. Thank you for everything you do.