Hegseth harks back to Battle of Agincourt for US hi-tech weapons’ overhaul

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth drew on the decisive role played by English archers in a famous victory over the French more than 600 years ago as he announced a revamp of American military drone tech.

In a speech to troops at the main Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, the Pentagon chief dubbed the drive towards forging a new autonomous warfare command, Project Agincourt.

The 15th-century battle, immortalised by William Shakespeare in Henry V and its rousing St Crispin’s Day speech, saw English forces defeat a much larger French army with the longbow.

Mr Hegseth made his speech to troops at the main US Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia (Alex Wong/AP)

AP

The modern-day namesake initiative will overhaul the way the US military buys, tests and uses drones and other cutting-edge weapons.

Mr Hegseth said: “Ukraine’s lesson is not that one type of drone wins wars, but rather the need for a purpose-built system that maximises the ability to adapt.”

Referring to Project Agincourt, Mr Hegseth said: “Now the name means something. In 1415, many moons ago, the outnumbered English army defeated a numerically superior French force in their legacy armour with a new technology – the longbow.

“The English had to look outside their traditional recruitment pools to find skilled archers.

“Now, to maximise the rate of fire that you need to be effective, they integrated fletchers – the craftsmen who made and repaired the arrows for the longbows, and they move them close to the front lines to sustain the rate of fire.

“We face a very similar moment.”

Mr Hegseth said the rollout of autonomous and robotic capabilities, overseen by the new command, would be “the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history”.

In addition, SpaceX chief Elon Musk will help lead a study into the future of warfare.

The defence secretary also used his “State of the Force” address to announce a further reduction in senior military posts and defend his crack down on “woke” culture.

He said: “We are no longer the woke department or the weak department.”

As such there would be “no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals, just warriors, just tough, ready, committed troops”.

He added: “The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top.

“Diversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength, because what-that’s all that really matters when the missiles are flying.”

Mr Hegseth also took a sideswipe at the media, likening its coverage of military operations to “treason”.

He said: “A free press is, of course, important, but partisan activism that intentionally smears the troops and the historic mission that they’re undertaking is fundamentally anti-American.

“It’s sick. It’s a national betrayal. It’s treason, actually. I mean, I hate to have to say it, but it has to be said.”