At Quantico on September 30, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced plans for a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command with its own budget and acquisition powers. The Pentagon aims to establish AUTOWARCOM by October 1, 2027. Project Agincourt will prepare the transition, and Congress will have to provide the statutory authorities behind the proposed command.
Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle followed on October 1 with orders to establish the Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, or FASCOM, and put a single acquisition executive in charge of the Army's priority autonomous systems. On October 13, General Christopher LaNeve selected the existing Futures and Concepts Command for redesignation as the new headquarters. Telle wants priority capabilities acquired and fielded no later than fiscal 2028.
American advances in artificial intelligence and robotics offer a chance to change the balance of military power, provided the Pentagon buys equipment in large numbers and factories can replace wartime losses. A force that uses robotic systems for reconnaissance, breaching and other dangerous missions would expose fewer American soldiers to enemy fire. Beijing has already demonstrated the leverage it holds over essential drone components.
The power to buy
In April 1980, eight American servicemen died during the failed attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran. Problems exposed at Desert One, followed by further difficulties during the Grenada invasion, helped drive Congress to create Special Operations Command. When the command activated in April 1987, it had control over resources that special operations forces had previously struggled to obtain through the individual services.
Congress gave Special Operations Command acquisition authority under Title 10, Section 167, and its own Major Force Program 11 funding for development, purchases and sustainment. Congress could give AUTOWARCOM comparable acquisition powers. A dedicated budget and authority to commit money to production would leave its commanders responsible for getting equipment into service across the military.
Hegseth's October 2027 target leaves a year to establish those powers and organize the command. If Congress funds purchases during the transition, the Pentagon can expand production while it settles the permanent structure. Manufacturers could begin delivering equipment well before the headquarters opens.
Learning in the formations
LaNeve has assigned I Corps to test an autonomous fires battery and watercraft company, III Corps to experiment with armored reconnaissance, and V Corps to test autonomous breaching. XVIII Airborne Corps will test autonomous aerial reconnaissance and lift. As the Army spreads successful systems beyond the trial formations, machines can take over more missions that expose soldiers to enemy fire. Reconnaissance and breaching offer an immediate place to begin: send equipment ahead to locate enemy positions and open routes through obstacles.
At Fort Bragg on October 2, the Army inducted the first ten warrant officers in its new Robotics Technician specialty after a 19-week course. Their training covers programming and equipment integration in environments where the enemy disrupts communications and navigation. Telle has directed the Army to put these specialists into more units so their technical experience develops alongside the systems they operate.
Permanent technical positions would keep that experience inside operational formations instead of leaving every repair and upgrade to contractors. Robotics technicians who can modify equipment, train their successors and work directly with manufacturers will help the service improve its systems between purchases.
Fort Bragg's first operational acquisition detachment already works alongside soldiers and developers in the XVIII Airborne Corps' Joint Innovation Outpost. The Army reports that the Outpost and military contracting officials have reduced average contract award times to 20 days. Follow-on orders require the same speed if successful equipment is to reach other formations while manufacturers have capacity available.
In September, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported that more than 500 military units had access to its DOT-Chain Defence marketplace. Ukrainian forces had received more than 1.3 million drones and other items through the system and the associated Army of Drones Bonus program. Earlier ministry figures put average deliveries of in-stock equipment at about nine days. Units select what they want, and the Defence Procurement Agency handles contracts, payments and delivery oversight. An American version would let operational formations choose approved equipment while central procurement officers place the large orders.
The Ukrainian marketplace includes pilot-controlled drones, electronic-warfare equipment and ground robots. American trials will show how much of a mission an autonomous vehicle completes after it loses communications and satellite navigation. Successful systems can move into regular procurement. Military technicians would refine the equipment in the field and send changes directly to manufacturers.
Buying by the million
On September 28, the Drone Dominance Program opened its third competition, backed by $450 million for roughly 60,000 drones and an option to buy up to 40,000 more. Entrants will face trials under disrupted communications and satellite navigation. Purchases on that scale give manufacturers a reason to move beyond small experimental batches.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry reports that the country produced four million drones in 2025 and is targeting more than seven million in 2026. At the Army's annual conference on October 14, Hegseth said the Pentagon plans to field hundreds of thousands of one-way attack systems this year and millions in later years. Recurring American orders, rather than a succession of isolated competitions, would give manufacturers the confidence to build factories for those volumes.
Competition based on field performance gives new entrants a path to contracts as the equipment improves. Multiple suppliers provide alternatives when a manufacturer falls behind. Reserve stocks and unused factory capacity give the military time to recover. Peacetime replenishment exercises would expose weaknesses in that network before a war forces factories to deliver replacements on combat schedules.
Telle's acquisition executive could purchase approved revisions during production, while military technicians retain the ability to repair equipment already in service. Congressional funding for engineering between production runs would carry improvements from the field into the next batch without years of delay.
Build the parts here
In October 2024, Skydio chief executive Adam Bry told customers he was rationing batteries to one per drone after Chinese sanctions disrupted supply. Skydio manufactured its aircraft in the United States, but still sourced batteries from China. Bry said the company's only customer in Taiwan was the National Fire Agency. Beijing had interrupted an American manufacturer's supplies over sales to Taiwanese firefighters.
American forces cannot depend on Chinese suppliers for components they would need in a war with China. Congress can steer procurement dollars toward domestic component factories and pay the upfront cost of rebuilding capacity that the United States allowed a strategic adversary to control.
Skydio announced a $3.5 billion American investment plan in April covering five years of manufacturing and development. More than $1 billion would go to domestic suppliers, and the company plans a factory five times larger than its existing space. Skydio also intends to bring some suppliers onto the same site so they can work directly with its production and engineering teams.
Sustained federal orders would give battery and motor manufacturers more reason to invest in equipment and train workers. Trusted allies could supply components during the expansion. Over time, Pentagon purchases would reduce the dependence that Beijing exploited against Skydio.
Skydio also sells to utilities and public safety agencies, so its factory expansion serves a commercial market beyond the Pentagon. Domestic component production would benefit those customers and other American robotics companies. Military demand would help establish a broader American robotics industry capable of competing internationally.
Supplying the Pacific
The Drone Dominance competition's deep-strike mission reaches out to about 20 kilometers. A conflict in the Pacific would require other systems with much greater range and forces able to sustain them across thousands of miles. The Army's experiment with autonomous watercraft resupply begins to develop the transportation alongside the weapons.
On October 14, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao confirmed that the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group had deployed on October 8 alongside Seahawk, a large unmanned surface vessel. It was the first operational deployment of a U.S. carrier strike group with a vessel of that kind. Operational experience from the deployment will inform the Navy's use of uncrewed craft for surveillance, resupply and other missions in contested waters.
Both services have a practical test ahead: get replacement vehicles and spare parts to dispersed formations while an enemy attacks supply routes. Forward stocks and nearby maintenance sites would reduce dependence on vulnerable shipping routes. Military technicians trained alongside manufacturers could keep equipment operating far from contractor factories.
Initial procurement contracts could cover replacements for expected combat losses as well as the first equipment deliveries. That would give American factories and allied suppliers a reason to invest in the machinery, workforce and components required for an extended campaign. Prepositioned stocks in the Pacific would complement new equipment shipped from the United States.
By fiscal 2028, the Army intends to have its priority autonomous systems in use beyond the formations conducting today's experiments. The Navy has begun taking uncrewed vessels to sea with carrier groups. AUTOWARCOM's commanders will then face the continuing work of ordering replacements, buying improved models and maintaining equipment across the services.
The factories and suppliers built through those contracts could keep producing while American ships, aircraft and ground units fight thousands of miles away. Beijing would have to plan for a military that receives fresh equipment month after month, even after attacks on forward bases and supply routes. The contracts signed before AUTOWARCOM opens will determine how much of that capacity exists when the military calls for it.