When Caudle takes the helm, he will be the first Senate-confirmed CNO since Trump fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti from that post in February without explanation. Adm. James Kilby, the Navy’s vice chief, has been serving as acting CNO since Franchetti was removed.

Caudle told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing last week that he approves of Franchetti’s CNO Navigation Plan, or strategic vision, that was released last year. That plan included Project 33, an effort to accelerate the acquisition and fielding of unmanned systems, AI and “information dominance” capabilities to deter or defeat a Chinese attack on Taiwan or other U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific.

Caudle told lawmakers that his top priorities for Navy transformation, if confirmed, would be to invest in platforms, sensors and weapons systems that are “modular, scalable and built for rapid upgrade cycles” to stay ahead of emerging threats; boost sailors and warfighters through advanced training, leadership development and talent management; and “accelerate delivery of integrated, networked capabilities across the joint force, including unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and resilient C3 architectures to enable decision advantage and operational dominance in contested environments.”

Adopting cutting-edge tech such as AI, uncrewed platforms, cyber tools and data-driven decision-making could enable the Navy to “outpace adversaries by leveraging faster learning curves and feedback loops from the assessment of existing combat operations,” he wrote in response to senators’ advance policy questions ahead of this confirmation hearing.

Caudle suggested a more aggressive push to adopt robotic platforms might be needed if Navy shipbuilding programs face further budget constraints or cost growth problems.

“Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS), also referred to as Unmanned Systems, are a force multiplier already being employed across a wide range of missions. Prioritizing the integration of RAS at scale, as appropriate, into naval and joint force architecture would be a necessary step [to deal with further fiscal constraints]. Additionally, we could potentially expand and accelerate current RAS systems further across the fleet, in all cases focusing on affordability, training, and interoperability with manned platforms,” he wrote.

The nomination of Caudle — a four-star who has been serving as commander of Fleet Forces Command — for the CNO role wasn’t a controversial pick.

Caudle’s confirmation was approved by voice vote, along with a slew of other military nominations, as the Senate nears its August recess.

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“The United States must aggressively adopt AI within its Armed Forces if it is to maintain its global military preeminence while also ensuring, as outlined throughout this Action Plan, that its use of AI is secure and reliable,” the 28-page AI Action Plan document states.

Released on Wednesday — ahead of several corresponding executive orders in the publication pipeline — America’s AI Action Plan broadly promotes more widespread use of AI and machine learning, and seeks to reduce administrative and other hindrances limiting government deployments. 

“The Action Plan’s objective is to articulate policy recommendations that this administration can deliver for the American people to achieve the president’s vision of global AI dominance,” officials wrote.

The strategy prioritizes three pillars: driving innovation, building out infrastructure, and leading in international AI diplomacy and security.

It builds on the American AI Initiative launched under the first Trump administration, and was prompted after the president rescinded a Biden administration AI mandate in January at the start of his second term.

Because of DOD’s “unique operational needs,” the new action plan carves out policy recommendations custom for the department — such as the new AI and autonomy proving ground. The process for that new test range will begin “with scoping the technical, geographic, security, and resourcing requirements necessary for such a facility,” officials wrote.

The plan also directs the Pentagon to develop a streamlined process for classifying, evaluating, and optimizing workflows involved in its major functions and, eventually, a list of its priority workflows for automation with AI.

Personnel are additionally told to “prioritize DOD-led agreements with cloud service providers, operators of computing infrastructure, and other relevant private sector entities to codify priority access to computing resources in the event of a national emergency so that DOD is prepared to fully leverage these technologies during a significant conflict.”

Further, Trump’s framework calls for new talent development programs to meet the Pentagon’s AI-related workforce requirements — and to grow its Senior Military Colleges “into hubs of AI research, development, and talent building, teaching core AI skills and literacy to future generations.”

On a call with reporters Wednesday morning, a senior White House official said that more than 10,000 responses were submitted to the administration’s request for information to inform the action plan’s development.

“It was probably one of the most diverse sets of individuals from across the country and across different sectors — from civil society, to Hollywood, to academia, to the private sector. It really represented and showed the intense interest that the American people had in this and the responses from that RFI ultimately were reflected in the report,” the senior official said.

The guidance does not explicitly name the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office in regards to carrying out any of these new responsibilities.

Editor’s note: FedScoop’s Madison Alder contributed reporting.

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Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton has been selected to receive his fourth star and become the next vice chief of space operations, according to a notice posted to Congress.gov. If confirmed, Bratton would take over the Space Force’s No. 2 spot from Gen. Michael Guetlein, who was recently tapped to lead the Defense Department’s sprawling Golden Dome missile defense effort.

Bratton has been serving as the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements since 2023, where he has been responsible for the service’s overall warfighting strategies, system requirements and budget.

Prior to his current role, Bratton served as the first commander of the Space Force’s Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), which oversees guardian training, capability testing and creating operational doctrine.

As the Space Force’s vice chief, Bratton would assist Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman in leading the Pentagon’s smallest service and advocating for more resources. In recent months, the Space Force has been given a number of new responsibilities — from critical capabilities moving to the space domain to development of Golden Dome.

Bratton’s nomination confirms that Guetlein will not serve in a dual-hatted position as both vice chief of space operations and direct reporting program manager for Golden Dome. Trump announced in May that Guetlein would lead the DOD-wide effort, which seeks to build a comprehensive missile defense architecture for the U.S. homeland leveraging terrestrial- and space-based systems.

Meanwhile, Gen. Thomas Bussiere has been picked to serve as the next vice chief of staff for the Air Force, a second notice on Congress.gov stated. Bussiere currently helms Air Force Global Strike Command, and previously held a number of leadership positions within the service’s strategic enterprise during his career.

The Air Force has been without a vice chief since February, when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth removed Gen. James Slife from the position. Slife was fired alongside former chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown and former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.

If confirmed, Bussiere’s extensive experience with the Air Force’s strategic enterprise would be a welcome one as the service works to modernize all of its nuclear capabilities. While some efforts like the B-21 Raider stealth bomber are going relatively well, others like the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program have been troubled by growing cost estimates.

Both nominees must be confirmed by the Senate to become vice chiefs.

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In his new job, Tata will serve as principal staff assistant and advisor to the secretary of defense for force readiness, health affairs, National Guard and Reserve component affairs, education and training, and military and civilian personnel requirements and management.

He will be in position to play a key role in guiding implementation of Trump administration policies affecting the DOD workforce, such as Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives.

During his confirmation hearing in May, he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he would work with lawmakers on “optimizing” the DOD workforce and military and making sure the Pentagon doesn’t have “personnel gaps” in back offices or on the frontlines.

“It’s clear the DoD has a cyber talent shortage, in part because of stiff competition from the civilian sector where DoD salaries struggle to compete. Building on my understanding of the Cyber Excepted Service workforce, I will, if confirmed, work with cyber leadership to identify and implement enhancements to the program, as needed,” he told members of the committee in response to advance policy questions ahead of his confirmation hearing.

“I believe it is crucially important that the Department seeks to recruit and retain the best technical and digital workforce across the total force, including civilian and Active Duty military personnel. The obvious advantages of uniformed personnel in these roles are they bring a warfighter focus and come at a fixed labor cost. The perceived disadvantages could be frequent reassignment and requirements to deploy. If confirmed, I will assess how we train and assign our Service members to support their ability to maintain currency in constantly changing fields. In addition to balancing the active duty and civilian workforce, I believe we need to assess how we best utilize the talent of our Reserve Component personnel,” he wrote.

The Trump administration is in the process of cutting tens of thousands of DOD civilians as part of a broader DOGE push.

Tata told lawmakers that, if confirmed, he would prioritize assessing civilian workforce morale and identifying challenges that employees face.

“My goal is to ensure we have the right tools and environment to attract, retain, and support the highly skilled workforce essential to the DoD’s critical mission,” Tata wrote. “I recognize that proposed workforce reductions can create uncertainty and impact morale. If confirmed, I will prioritize assessing the effects of any such reductions on the DoD’s civilian workforce and implement strategies to maintain a high-performing and resilient workforce dedicated to the Department’s mission.”

At his confirmation hearing, he vowed to protect DOD personnel’s sensitive personal and health information from potential mishandling by the DOGE team at the Pentagon.

“It’s a massive amount of data,” Tata noted. “If I’m confirmed, before DOGE is able to access anything with regard to personnel and personal protected information, there will be some kind of contract that prevents them from doing certain things. I’m not in there yet, I haven’t worked with DOGE, I don’t know DOGE. But what I do know is men and women in the military and their families deserve to have their privacy protected, and I will commit to them, and I will commit to you, to doing everything possible to get between anyone that wants to get their data and use it for any other reasons.”

He added: “The military health data, the military personnel data — all the records are so critical that we have to have some kind of guardrail in place that helps us prevent improper access to personnel data. And if confirmed, I can commit that I will do my very best to put guardrails in place. And by the way, I don’t suspect that DOGE would try to do anything improper with this information, but sometimes accidents happen, and so we would need some kind of guardrail in place to be able to protect military members’ personal data and their medical data.”

Tata is a West Point graduate who had a 28-year career in the Army and later performed the duties of undersecretary of defense for policy during Trump’s first term.

Since leaving the military, he has made inflammatory statements as a political commentator, including calling former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader,” among other remarks that critics have panned. During Trump’s first term, the president withdrew Tata’s nomination to be undersecretary of defense for policy in a Senate-confirmed capacity, in the face of political opposition.

In response to questioning from lawmakers at his confirmation hearing in May for the P&R role, Tata said some of his previous comments that have drawn scrutiny were “out of character.”

He told senators that, if confirmed, he would be an “apolitical leader that is trying to take care of the men and women in uniform and their families and the DOD civilians.”

Democratic members of the SASC expressed concerns that he might support a purge of senior military officers who the Trump administration dislikes.

“I would not support any kind of blatant purge,” Tata said at the hearing. “If an officer is not following the constitution, has committed some kind of breach of his or her duty, then that should be investigated, and the investigation should tell us what to do.”

Jules Hurst was performing the duties of undersecretary for P&R prior to Tata’s confirmation.

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The nomination was submitted to the Senate last week and has been referred to the Armed Services Committee for consideration, according to a notice posted on Congress.gov.

A White House announcement and the congressional notice said Caggy was tapped for a “new” ASD position, without providing additional information. A senior congressional official on Tuesday confirmed that Caggy has been nominated to be ASD for mission capabilities. Although the role was created during the Biden administration, it’s still considered “new” in bureaucratic parlance because it’s never been filled by a Senate-confirmed official.

Marcia Holmes was recently performing the duties of ASD for mission capabilities, according to a Defense Department org chart.

If confirmed, Caggy would oversee efforts to develop and support future warfighting concepts and “integrated architectures,” close capability gaps in support of defense modernization, and regularly engage with the joint force and combatant commanders, among other duties, according to a DOD description of the mission capabilities portfolio. The office is tasked with helping execute joint and interagency prototyping and experiments; identifying, developing and demonstrating “multi-domain” concepts and technology; and leveraging multiple prototyping pathways to address “operational gaps” and accelerate capabilities to warfighters.

According to DOD, a key goal for the ASD position is to help get capabilities across the so-called “Valley of Death,” a term used by members of the Pentagon’s acquisition community that refers to challenges in transitioning promising technologies from research and development into production and fielding.

“ASD(MC) serves as a transition partner through innovative and efficient experimentation strategies with the end goal of not just prototyping and fielding, but operational sustainment via scalability, producibility, and training,” according to the Defense Department.

Caggy highlighted his nomination in a LinkedIn post over the holiday weekend.

“If confirmed, I’ll bring the same mission first, bureaucracy last mindset that’s driven me my entire career. Collaborating with all to deliver the best American capabilities for the Joint Force. Working with a team of Doers grounded in humility, egos set aside in favor of doing what’s right for Warfighters and, ultimately, the country,” he wrote.

Caggy recently served as an advisor to the Strategic Capabilities Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. From 2013 to 2023, he held executive roles at Amazon Web Services (AWS), including general manager and director (L8) for secure connection services, and senior manager for DOD solutions. He also has military experience, having previously served as an Army infantry officer in the active duty and Reserve components for about 20 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Defense Department’s research and engineering directorate is led by former Uber executive Emil Michael, who took the helm as undersecretary for R&E and chief technology officer in May.

Other Trump nominees for senior positions in the directorate are still going through the Senate confirmation process.

Last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a confirmation hearing for Michael Dodd, also known as “The DoddFather,” who was tapped to be assistant secretary of defense for critical technologies. The Senate has yet to vote on his confirmation.

In late March, Trump nominated Joseph Jewell, a hypersonics expert, to serve as assistant secretary of defense for science and technology. His confirmation hearing hasn’t been scheduled.

Last week, the president also nominated James Mazol to be deputy undersecretary of defense for R&E. Mazol had been performing the duties of that position in the months leading up to his nomination. Prior to joining the Trump administration, he was Republican policy director for the Senate Armed Services Committee and had responsibility for science and technology policy and programs, according to his DOD bio.

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“The Department of Defense must be able to procure, integrate, and train using low-cost, high-performing drones manufactured in the United States,” President Donald Trump wrote in the directive.

This new EO comes at a time when autonomous systems are increasingly proving to be game-changing on contemporary battlefields. Yet despite major investments, all of America’s military services are confronting serious challenges in adopting and deploying different-sized and affordable drones for widespread use.

DefenseScoop asked former defense officials and national security experts to share their analyses regarding the order, in separate conversations following its release last month.

“At first glance, the EO is directionally sound — it signals a strategic interest in accelerating the adoption of commercial unmanned aerial systems in the U.S. and reducing barriers to their use, particularly for testing and training,” Lauren Kahn, senior research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said. “That’s a positive step.”

David Rothzeid — a venture investor at Shield Capital, Air Force reservist and Defense Innovation Unit alum — echoed that sentiment, saying he views the EO “as a positive and timely move that supports both national security and the U.S. innovation ecosystem.”

“It sends a meaningful demand signal to American entrepreneurs and primes the broader market to accelerate development,” he told DefenseScoop. “That said, although the EO is well-aimed, its long-term impact will depend on execution.” 

A longtime procurement official, Rothzeid previously led acquisition pathways at DIU. He argued that the DOD at this point needs to “avoid repeating past mistakes where adversaries seized technological leads due to” slow adoption and over-classification postures at the Pentagon. 

“For example, the proliferation of Chinese-created DJI drones in both consumer and defense sectors continues to exacerbate our domestic sourcing. By failing to incubate and scale domestic alternatives earlier, we inadvertently ceded a portion of the Group 1 UAV market to foreign influence,” Rothzeid said, referring to drones on the small end of the spectrum.

Tucked into the new EO is a line that directs the department and military leadership to identify programs that hold potential to be “more cost efficient or lethal” if replaced by drones — and to submit a report to the president on their findings within 90 days of its publication.

“This is included as almost a throwaway because DOD has been doing that during its budget and strategy review,” Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told DefenseScoop.

He pointed to the Army terminating its Apache attack helicopter replacement program, noting that determination was “likely driven by a desire to use drones.”

“Other examples are the large increase in funding for the [Air Force’s] collaborative combat aircraft — a drone that would accompany manned aircraft — and endorsement of the Replicator program, which seeks to develop drone swarms and was started by the Biden administration,” Cancian said.

In Kahn’s view, that specific provision regarding recommendations on drones to replace legacy weapons “risks becoming a box-ticking exercise if services nominate programs they were already planning to retire.”

“However, if taken seriously and used to spur some of the efforts already underway in the department to accelerate the adoption of cheaper, attritable, drones and other precise mass capabilities, it could help rebalance a force still over-invested in costly, vulnerable legacy systems,” she said.

“As Ukraine and Israel have shown in recent days with Operations Spider’s Web and Rising Lion, low-cost UAS can impose asymmetric costs and scale far faster than exquisite platforms — making them strong candidates to replace select ISR, strike, or base defense assets. Still, systems shouldn’t be replaced just for the sake of it; the goal is a high-low mix where attritable drones complement, not supplant, more advanced capabilities,” Kahn told DefenseScoop.

Despite being titled “Delivering Drones to Our Warfighters,” Section 9 of the order spotlights elements that she considers more associated with airspace issues and training — and “less about breaking down challenges the department faces when it comes to acquiring, sustaining, and rapidly scaling UAS, and other emerging capabilities.”

Khan further noted that the EO “entirely overlooks” unmanned surface vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles, and other autonomous and remotely crewed systems.

Meanwhile, “a welcome provision is the push to allow all platforms on the Blue UAS list to operate on military installations without requiring policy exceptions,” she told DefenseScoop.

Managed by DIU, Blue UAS is a Pentagon program that is designed to help the department rapidly pinpoint and approve secure commercial drones for government use.

“That’s the kind of specific change that can have outsized operational impact by enabling more rapid experimentation and deployment. However, it largely emphasizes access to airspace — an essential and persistent issue, particularly when it comes to deconflicting some of the challenges of airspace above military installations that the DOD itself faces,” Khan said, adding that the directive “largely targets known, second-order problems rather than the deeper, more significant structural barriers the DOD faces when adopting UAS at scale.”

Tom Adams, director of public safety at DroneShield, also said the EO marks a step in the right direction, but suggested more needs to be done.

“[There] were some noticeable gaps in the language related to the authorities for public safety, and critical infrastructure, for example, that I believe is meant to be addressed with more formal legislation,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how Congress tackles this issue that is so crucial to the security of the homeland.”

Rothzeid also spotlighted the directive’s Blue UAS provision in his discussion with DefenseScoop. To him, it’s “critical” for DOD to expand that list and update it with newly approved industry-made capabilities more frequently. 

“There are new players with innovative UAS platforms popping up in the space all the time — and while it’s important to make sure UAS platforms are secure and compliant — being more flexible to let new vendors in will accelerate the pace of innovation by widening the number of platforms DOD can procure rapidly,” he said.

Rothzeid offered several other suggestions, beyond what was covered in Trump’s order, that could help the military more rapidly field combat-ready drone systems. 

He recommended DOD improve companies’ access to testing ranges, particularly for drones that are built or modified to withstand interference from electromagnetic sources for emergency response or other purposes.

“Startups consistently face delays and red tape when trying to test their systems in realistic electromagnetic environments. This is a critical gap, especially considering that several U.S. platforms sent to Ukraine failed due to inadequate battlefield resilience,” Rothzeid said.

He additionally urged the Trump administration to ensure that the demand signal from the new EO is supported by budget allocations in the near term to enable its implementation. 

“Ultimately, policy without procurement falls flat. If this EO is to deliver on its promise, DOD will need to match it with funding, contracting pathways, and accountability to ensure real dollars flow to companies building these next-generation systems,” Rothzeid told DefenseScoop.

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The biggest single pot of money under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” would be for Cyber Command, a $250 million allocation for “artificial intelligence lines of effort.” Another $20 million would go to cybersecurity programs at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command — which counts among its geographical areas of responsibility territorial waters for cyber adversaries in Russia, China and North Korea — would get $1 million for cyber offensive operations. Cyber offense was something the second Trump administration emphasized when coming into office.

A $90 million pool of funds for several purposes at the Defense Department would include “cybersecurity support for non-traditional contractors.”

A broader set of funds at the Coast Guard would allow some funds to be spent on cyber there. A $2.2 billion allocation for maintenance includes upkeep of “cyber assets.” A $170 million allocation for “maritime domain awareness” includes “the cyber domain.”

The lone non-military mention of money that can be spent on cyber comes via the $10 billion-per-year Rural Health Transformation Program, a state grants program meant to counter the legislation’s Medicaid funding cuts that the National Rural Health Association says falls short of doing so.

Grants can be devoted to, among other things, “cybersecurity capability development.”

Earlier in the process, when House committees were assembling their sections of the bill, Democrats took issue with a lack of funds for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“On the matter of cybersecurity, once again, Republicans say one thing [and] do another. Despite the Chairman’s pronouncement that the 119th Congress would be devoted to improving the Nation’s cybersecurity, there is not one penny in the Homeland Security Committee’s reconciliation title devoted to the issue,” the Democratic critique reads.

“This tone-deaf reconciliation package ignores serious threats facing the Nation — including cyber threats from Russia, China and its typhoon campaign, Iran, and cyber criminals — while turning a blind eye to the administration’s reckless dismantling of America’s cybersecurity agency,” the critique continues. “From election security, to threat hunting, to security by design, the Trump administration is gutting the core services CISA offers governments and the private sector alike, and Committee Republicans do not care.”

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The Navy’s Brad Cooper will take over at Centcom and get his fourth star, succeeding Army Gen. Michael Kurilla in that role. The Air Force’s Alexus Grynkewich will lead Eucom and be promoted to four-star, succeeding Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli in that position. Grynkewich will be dual-hatted as NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe.

The officers were confirmed unanimously by voice vote along with a slew of other nominations.

Cooper previously served as deputy commander of Centcom. Before that, he led Naval Forces Central Command and 5th Fleet, where he oversaw Task Force 59, which was established to help the Navy better integrate uncrewed systems and AI into its operations to strengthen the service’s maritime domain awareness.

Grynkewich had been serving as director of operations, J-3, with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Prior to that, he led Air Forces Central and Combined Forces Air Component Commander under U.S. Central Command. As commander of AFCENT, he was a booster for Task Force 99, which was stood up to operationally evaluate new drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and other missions.

Cooper is taking the helm at Centcom amid heightened tensions with Iran following the recent U.S. airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites with B-2 stealth bombers and 30,000-pound “massive ordnance penetrator” (MOP) weapons during Operation Midnight Hammer. Earlier this year, the command was combating Yemen’s Houthis during Operation Rough Rider.

In written responses to lawmakers’ advance policy questions ahead of his confirmation hearing, Cooper said that as Centcom commander, he would “launch new initiatives that advance our overmatch through the employment of cutting-edge technologies, including AI-enabled, unmanned platforms and digital integration. Ultimately, we must protect our homeland, counter malign influence, ensure freedom of navigation, compete strategically, and ensure USCENTCOM remains a combat-credible force for security in the region.”

Similarly, Grynkewich will command Eucom as the Ukraine-Russia war — in which drones and counter-drone systems have played a major role — rages on and U.S. military leaders are drawing lessons from the conflict.

“Since the conflict in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, warfare has evolved at a pace unseen since the Cold War’s end. Ukraine and Russia have developed and deployed new technologies and tactics on an innovation cycle of months rather than years. As a result, the U.S. Joint Force has established multiple cells to consistently analyze advancements and integrate lessons learned from the battlefield into U.S. and NATO exercises. For example, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have rapidly innovated their use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and uncrewed surface vessels (USV). UAS and USV operations are now conducted at scale, with significant impact and continuous technological updates. This attribute of the modern battlefield is fostering a shift to a culture of innovation, agility, and lethality across all elements of the U.S. and NATO Joint Force, from industry to operators,” he wrote.

Grynkewich told senators that as commander of Eucom, he would be “a strong advocate for continued investment and prioritization of funding for the fielding and protection of innovative logistics capabilities, such as AI-enabled tools with predictive analytics and autonomous distribution systems.”

Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee still hasn’t scheduled confirmation hearings for several other Trump nominees for key positions at the Defense Department, including Marine Corps Gen. Christopher Mahoney, who was picked to be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Navy Adm. Daryl Caudle, who was selected for chief of naval operations; Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, who’s been tapped to command U.S. Africa Command; Navy Vice Adm. Frank Bradley, who was chosen to lead U.S. Special Operations Command; and former congressional candidate and Green Beret Derrick Anderson, who was put forth to serve as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict after the nomination of Air Force veteran Michael Jensen for the ASD SO/LIC job was withdrawn without explanation.

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The event marked the first-ever operational employment of the weapon, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed Sunday during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

The 30,000-pound GBU-57 bomb, also known as the MOP, is designed to be capable of attacking underground targets. It can reportedly hit locations hundreds of feet below ground level.

“MOP is a large, GPS-guided, penetrating weapon with the ability to attack deeply-buried and hardened bunkers and tunnels. The warhead case is made from a special high‑performance steel alloy and its design allows for a large explosive payload while maintaining the integrity of the penetrator case during impact,” according to an Air Force description of the system.

Due to the bomb’s size and design, it can only be carried by the B-2 bomber. Each B-2 can carry two GBU-57s.

Early testing of the MOP began about 20 years ago under a technology demonstration effort led by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency before the technology was transitioned to an Air Force “quick reaction capability program,” according to a service fact sheet. Boeing was contracted in 2009 for MOP-aircraft integration efforts. In 2017, the MOP transitioned to an Air Force program of record, according to a report by the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation.

Notably, in fiscal 2024, the Air Force conducted two full-scale tests to “verify fixes to a B-2 integration issue,” according to a DOT&E annual report.

The Air Force has been pursuing a MOP modification program to integrate a “smart fuze” capability into the weapon. The so-called Large Penetrator Smart Fuze is intended to provide “increased probability of kill” against hard and deeply buried targets “by mitigating the risk of target intelligence uncertainty,” according to the DOT&E report. Defense officials on Sunday did not say whether the MOPs used in Midnight Hammer were equipped with the smart fuze capability.

Seven B-2s and a variety of other assets were involved in Midnight Hammer, which included U.S. attacks on Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan in Iran, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at Sunday’s press briefing.

Hegseth said the aim of the mission, which was ordered by President Donald Trump, was to “destroy or severely degrade” Iran’s nuclear program. Western officials were concerned that the Iranian regime could use the country’s nuclear materials and know-how to build weapons of mass destruction.

“At approximately 6:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 2:10 a.m. Iran time, the lead B-2 dropped two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator weapons on the first of several aim points at Fordow,” Caine said. “The remaining bombers then hit their targets as well, with a total of 14 MOPs dropped against two nuclear target areas. All three Iranian nuclear infrastructure targets were struck between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. Eastern time … with the Tomahawk missiles [launched from a submarine] being the last to strike at Esfahan to ensure we retain the element of surprise throughout the operation. Following weapons release, the Midnight Hammer strike package exited Iranian airspace, and the package began its return home.”

Fighter jets went in ahead of the bombers to guard against enemy fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missiles. The Defense Department is unaware of any shots being fired at the U.S. military aircraft on their way in or out of Iran, Caine noted.

About 75 precision guided weapons were employed during the operation, including the 14 MOPs, according to Caine.

Dozens of air refueling tankers were also involved in the mission, he noted, as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, and hundreds of maintenance and operational personnel.

On Sunday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social that the B-2 pilots who took part in Midnight Hammer had safely returned to their base in Missouri. The mission from Whiteman Air Force Base to Iran and back lasted about 36 hours, with the help of aerial refueling, according to U.S. Strategic Command.

Senior U.S. officials touted the operation as a success.

“The damage to the Nuclear sites in Iran is said to be ‘monumental.’ The hits were hard and accurate. Great skill was shown by our military,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Hegseth described the mission as an “incredible and overwhelming success.”

Caine noted that a final battle damage assessment will take “some time” to complete. However, initial battle damage assessments “indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” he told reporters.

Officials in the Trump administration over the weekend said they now hope to have a negotiated settlement to the conflict. They were waiting to see how Iran would respond.

On Monday, Iran launched missile attacks at a U.S. military base in Qatar.

“I can confirm that al Udeid Air Base was attacked by short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles originating from Iran today. At this time, there are no reports of U.S. casualties. We are monitoring this situation closely and will provide more information as it becomes available,” a U.S. defense official said in a statement.

Updated on June 23, 2025, at 2 PM: This story was updated to include comment from a U.S. defense official about an Iranian missile attack on al Udeid Air Base on Monday.

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The role is currently held by Navy Adm. Christopher Grady, who is nearing the end of his scheduled term in that position.

Trump submitted Mahoney’s nomination for the role to the Senate on June 17, and it’s been referred to the Armed Services Committee for consideration, according to a notice posted on Congress.gov.

The vice chairman of the JCS plays a key role in the Defense Department as chair of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and a senior adviser on technology-related initiatives.

Mahoney is currently serving as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, a role he’s held since November 2023. For several months, he also performed the duties of commandant while Gen. Eric Smith was recovering from a cardiac arrest episode and open-heart surgery. The Marine Corps commandant is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He previously served as deputy commander of U.S. Marine Forces Pacific; director of strategy and Plans at HQMC; deputy commander of U.S. Forces, Japan; commanding general of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing; and deputy commandant for programs and resources, HQMC, among other assignments.

Mahoney, a TOPGUN graduate, rose through the ranks of the Corps’ aviation community and has over 5,000 hours of flight time in the A-6, F-5, F-18 and F-35. He’s held command at the squadron, group and wing levels, and is also a qualified forward air controller and parachutist, according to his official bio.

He has noted the importance of the U.S. military improving its networking capabilities and focusing on software-driven technologies.

“There are more networks out there than probably a Cray computer can count. There needs to be unification of a network concept. And there needs to be a change in the way we think about hardware so that … it’s the software that drives the hardware, not the hardware that drives the software,” Mahoney said last year at a Hudson Institute event.

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