Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll slammed the defense acquisition system on Monday, saying it prioritizes the desires of government bureaucrats and defense lobbyists over the needs of the American soldier.

In his first appearance as Army secretary at the Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington, Mr. Driscoll told a ballroom filled with high-ranking military officials that while U.S. troops have always had each other’s backs on the battlefield, the service’s civilian leadership hasn’t always done the same for them.

“We let you down because we didn’t place you first. The system, the bureaucracy and the prioritization placed you last for decades. That stops now,” he said. “Everything we’re doing is to empower you, make you more lethal and give you the tools to dominate battlefields and win wars.”

Mr. Driscoll said Army leadership has played it safe for decades by giving in to bureaucrats and special interests that have taken advantage of a broken system in Washington. Their priorities have shifted too often from combat effectiveness to jobs and profits for the defense industry since the end of the Cold War, he said.

“The definition of success became taking no risks, doing absolutely nothing and not just getting fired,” Mr. Driscoll said.

The Army also sank billions of dollars into gold-plated weapons like the XM2001 Crusader self-propelled howitzer, the RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance and attack helicopter and the M-10 Booker light tank that officials knew weren’t suitable for the battlefields of the future, the Army secretary said.

“They were all unequivocal failures that eroded Congress’ and the public’s trust in Army acquisitions,” Mr. Driscoll said.

The Army is hampered by its reliance on outdated technology, even as the commercial sector is transforming the world with innovations like artificial intelligence, robotics and the seamless integration of computers and microprocessors into daily life, he said.

“Our soldiers are still stuck fighting with systems conceived in the 1980s. When I was in Iraq in 2009, the gap between military and commercial technology was stunning,” Mr. Driscoll said. “Returning to the Army 15 years later, I’m absolutely enraged to report that the gap has grown into a deep chasm. And our soldiers have to cross that chasm every single day.”

While technology enables people to instantly command artificial intelligence, exchange data worldwide, and even commute to work in a self-driving car, America’s soldiers are part of an organization that has been conditioned to expect technological failure, he said.

“When we train, you step into the same platforms that we fielded 30 and 40 years ago, like the Humvee. You struggle to communicate beyond line-of-sight, and you wonder why the hell you can’t just use the smartphone in your pocket,” Mr. Driscoll said. “Before and after work, our soldiers live in the real world. But while they’re on duty, they time-travel back to the early 2000s at best.”

The Army has invested about $750 million in emerging tech and innovation, including a “Shark Tank” like contest for companies — especially start-ups — to pitch them a product that can be presented within two or three months.

“We train like we fight, and acquisitions should be no different,” Mr. Driscoll said. “We wouldn’t take 10 to 12 months to sign a contract while in a fight, so we will train our system to move fast.”

The traditional 12- to 18-month contracting cycle is no longer feasible, and tech advancements move too fast for multi-year acquisitions. He said the Army is going to “completely disrupt” a system that held the service back for decades while lining the pockets of defense contractors. The Army’s acquisition enterprise is more complicated than it should be, and that’s getting in the way of empowering soldiers, he said.

“We will combine it all under a single organization that reports directly to senior Army leadership. We want simple, fast and efficient,” Mr. Driscoll said. “We want to get soldiers the tools they need now, not a decade in the future.”

If small arms defined the battlefields of the 20th century, drones will dominate warfare in the 21st. Mr. Driscoll said he can’t overstate the impact drones will have on warfare and homeland defense.

“Just look at the exponential increase in the use of drones in Ukraine in just three years. Drones are the definition of an asymmetric capability,” he said. “They are a critical threat to our homeland. Defending our soldiers and our homeland against drone threats is a top priority for the United States Army.”

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.