Lethality by Photo-Op

The Pentagon’s top brass gather at great expense — but to what end?

Good afternoon,

This Tuesday, nearly every general and flag officer in the United States military will assemble at Quantico, Virginia. The official reason? Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wants to meet his generals and admirals in person.

On its face, that’s fair. Any boss should want face time with their senior leaders. In-person meetings can spark organic conversations that no Zoom call or VTC can replicate. But here’s the problem: this gathering is scheduled to last less than two hours. The odds of those kinds of valuable side conversations taking root in such a compressed timeline are close to zero.

And the price tag? Our rough math puts it at $3.4 million once you tally flights from around the globe, lodging, per diem, logistics, security, and the opportunity cost of pulling nearly 850 senior officers away from their day jobs. Even in the low estimate scenario, it’s still well over $2.5 million. In the high case, closer to $4.5 million.

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Hegseth the “Warrior”

What makes this harder to swallow is the man driving it. Secretary Hegseth often presents himself as the champion of the “warrior ethos” and has publicly chastised general officers for being insufficiently lethal. Now he has summoned them all for a pep talk.

But there’s a fundamental tension here: a two-hour meeting at Quantico is not a crucible for instilling ethos, nor is it a meaningful driver of warfighting effectiveness. Lethality is not increased by slogans or stage-managed formations; it’s increased by hard training, realistic exercises, investment in technology, and the steady, grinding work of building cohesive units.

It takes more than speeches and theatrics to shape a force ready for conflict. What our generals and admirals need from their Secretary is strategic clarity and consistent resourcing — not another lecture about being “warriors.”

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The Price of Theater

This would be easier to dismiss if we weren’t staring down the barrel of a government shutdown. Civilian employees will be furloughed, military families will go without paychecks, and programs across the Department of Defense will grind to a halt. Against that backdrop, a multi-million-dollar mass formation for a two-hour meeting looks less like leadership and more like theater.

And theater doesn’t increase lethality. It doesn’t make the force more ready. It doesn’t help recruit, retain, or equip the next generation. If anything, it wastes the one commodity we can’t get back: time.

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Alternative Motivations

So why do this at all? Two possibilities:

1. A Demonstration of Control. By ordering every three- and four-star in the country to heel, Hegseth shows he can summon the brass with a snap of his fingers. It’s about optics and dominance, not dialogue.

2. A Photo-Op for the Base. Hegseth knows this will play well in certain media circles. “All the generals, together, listening to me” is an image worth far more to his political brand than to the Department’s mission.

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Hodges’ Nazi Analogy

Retired General Ben Hodges added fuel to the fire by tweeting that this recalled a supposed 1934 meeting where Hitler forced the Wehrmacht to swear the Führereid. Let’s set the record straight: such a personal oath certainly existed, the comparison is unnecessary and overwrought.

There is no reason to believe Hegseth is planning some fascist loyalty ritual at Quantico. But the spat between Hodges and Hegseth on social media only highlights how unserious the entire spectacle has become. Instead of sober, quiet leadership, we get culture-war theatrics and Twitter fights.

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The Bottom Line

This week’s meeting is not about readiness, lethality, or serious strategy. It is about optics, control, and ego. The generals and admirals will salute, file in, and file out. The Secretary will deliver his lines. The taxpayer will pick up the bill.

And at the end of it all, the U.S. military will be no more lethal, no more ready, and no more focused than it was before. Just a few million dollars poorer.

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On to the news.

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News Headlines

• President Trump ‘won’t allow’ Israel to annex occupied West Bank (AlJ)

• The U.K. looks to secure naval port services in Vietnam (DJ)

• SecDef Hegseth summons General and Flag Officers to Virginia for a lecture on ‘warrior culture’ (TH)

• The Defense Department’s focus seems to be shifting to defense of Homeland and regional control over Western Hemisphere instead of threats like China (MT)

• White House budget office tells agencies to draft mass firing plans ahead of potential shutdown (AP)

• Trump, in major reversal, suggests Ukraine can win back territory held by Russia (NPR)

• U.S. revokes Colombian president’s visa (BBC)

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Defense & Dual-Use Technologies 

• The Pentagon is considering sunsetting Link 16 as enthusiasm grows for optical comms (DS)

• Army Secretary in ‘holy war’ with Congress over budget flexibility (DN)

• Black Arrow small cruise missile demonstrates 400 mile range (TWZ)

• First F-47 now being built, will fly in 2028: U.S. Air Force chief (MT)

• As EW proliferates, Air Force Spectrum Warfare Wing speeds organic waveform development (BD)

• Joint Fires Network moves from R&D to acquisition program this week (BD)

• CENTCOM forms task force to speed delivery of drones, tech to troops (MT)

• Marines showcase ship-killing NMESIS missile system in Japan (TP)

Threat Tech

• Iran: U.S. demanded all nuclear stockpiles in exchange for sanction relief (BBG)

• Supreme Ayatollah says negotiations with U.S. are not in Iran’s interest (RT)

• North Korea’s Kim calls for sharpening of ‘nuclear shield and sword’ (AlJ)

• U.S. fighter jets intercept Russian military aircraft flying towards Alaska (AP)

• Russian nuclear ballistic missile sub spotted near Japan for first time (NI)

Foreign Defense Tech

• U.S., Western allies should look to ‘friendshoring’ defense production in the Middle East: Report (BD)

• NATO chooses Saab to lead underwater battle space project (DJ)

• Dutch radar firm Robin turns bird-spotting skills into drone defense (DN)

• Germany to build unscrewed missile-toting arsenal ships for its frigates (TWZ)

• Germany to buy anti-torpedo torpedo in 2026, leaked document shows (DN)

• India launches ballistic missile from train (TWZ)

• Italy’s Avio to produce Standard Missile motors for Raytheon (DN)

• Trump to meet with Turkish wannabe-dictator Erdoğan as U.S. considers easing restrictions on selling 5th Gen Fighters to country that also hosts Russian air defense missiles (AP)

• Ukraine relooks export controls, could begin exporting weapons to U.S., others (COP)

• Royal Air Force Poseidon P-8 has been refuelled in UK airspace for the first time (DJ)

Defense Industry

• Anduril nears first drone wingman flight, promises early autonomy (MT)

• Anduril blames CCA delay on push for ‘semi-autonomous’ first flight (DO)

• Maritime tech startup Blue Water Autonomy, Conrad Shipyard sign deal for USV production (BD)

• Embraer, SNC pushing A-29 Super Tucano for counter-drone mission (BD)

• Epirus’ Leonidas microwave weapon downs 49 drones with a single blast (NA)

• Helsing unveils new ‘Europa’ fighter jet drone (DJ)

• Honeywell demonstrates SAMURAI counter-swarm tech to operators (SPM)

• L3Harris looks to scale production of hybrid satcom radios after successful Air Force tests (SN)

• Pratt & Whitney developing new engines for CCA drones, cruise missiles (ASF)

• New APG-82(V)X radar For F-15EX announced by Raytheon (TWZ)

• RTX, Shield AI picked to give Collaborative Combat Aircraft autonomous capabilities (BD)

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Autonomous Systems 

• Germany plans to let military shoot down drones domestically (POL)

• Coast Guard to invest $350 million in robotics and autonomous systems (SPM)

• Air Force autonomous targeting tests show promise, struggle with hallucinations (TWZ)

• Laser-guided rockets now USAF’s primary weapon for counter-drone fight in Middle East (TWZ)

• Army shaking up new autonomy initiative, pivoting away from ISVs: sources (BD)

• Kratos is working with Taiwan to develop a jet-powered kamikaze drone, test flights to begin in 2026 (TWZ)

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Finance & Deal Flow

Funds

• Grays Peak Capital launched its second $500M private credit fund to invest the government and defense ecosystem in North America (PRN)

VC

• Auterion, a defense drone software company, raised a $130M Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BBG)

• Defense tech startup Firehawk Aerospace raised $60 million in a round led by 1789 Capital (PRN)

• AI-driven manufacturing platform Atomic Industries raised a $25M Series A led by MaC Venture Capital and DTX Ventures (PU)

• Alchemy, a 12-year-old company based in Kitchener, Canada, that develops nanotechnology materials for defense and automotive applications, raised a $6 million round from NameSilo Technologies, Pathfinder Asset Management, Pembroke Management, and other investors (BW)

PE / M&A / Exits

• Meituan-backed Chinese AI robotics firm Mech-Mind Robotics Technologies is planning a Hong Kong IPO to raise $200M (BBG)

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Exciting Opportunities

• SHORT NOTICE: DIU is looking for non-kinetic means of disabling small, non-compliant watercraft; submissions due this week (DIU)

• The Air Force is seeking innovative research to develop emerging Cyber and SIGINT real-time processing solutions to improve tactical information collection, geolocation, extraction, identification, analysis, simulation and reporting in support of the Intelligence Community (SAM)

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Editor’s Picks

• Derek Thompson explores 25 interesting ideas and trends from 2025, ranging from divorce rates dropping to the intractability of American manufacturing.

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Lighter Side

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Keep Building,

BOF

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