- The Army autonomy office now reports to the PAE for Layered Protection and Integration
- A special programs air office was created, and a plan to merge the ground combat and soldier systems CPEs was scrapped
- The former PEO Enterprise has become Enterprise Software and Services
The Army has made a fresh round of changes to its acquisition portfolio structure, including shifting its autonomy office to a different parent organization, Breaking Defense reported Monday.
Ashley John, an Army acquisition reform spokesperson, told the publication the service has spent six months adjusting the framework it stood up in the fall and will keep refining it, describing acquisition reform as an iterative process.
Why Did the Army Realign CPE Mission Autonomy?
The Capability Program Executive, or CPE, for Mission Autonomy now reports to the Portfolio Acquisition Executive, or PAE, for Layered Protection and Integration, rather than to PAE Maneuver Air. John said the move, decided in May, better nests cross-disciplinary functions among the PAEs.
Other changes include the creation of CPE Special Programs Air under PAE Maneuver Air to align special operations aviation with conventional Army programs. The service also opted to keep CPE Ground Combat Platforms and CPE Soldier Systems as separate offices under PAE Maneuver, dropping the original plan to merge them into a single CPE Ground.
The Army additionally converted the former PEO Enterprise into Enterprise Software and Services, or ES2. Rather than aligning with the chief information officer as first planned, ES2 will operate alongside the Pathway for Innovation and Technology.
What Did the Army’s November Acquisition Overhaul Change?
Under the fall reorganization, the Army folded its 12 program executive offices into a six-PAE structure and called for fewer general officers in senior acquisition posts. Army officials said at the time the structure was intended to reduce bureaucracy and paperwork and speed the acquisition process by 30 to 50 percent. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, a 2026 Wash100 Award winner, told Breaking Defense in November that the prior system’s risk aversion slowed the delivery of tools to soldiers.
