From Thousands to Millions

Hegseth outlined the request on Wednesday, October 14, during the Project Agincourt panel at the AUSA annual meeting, per ExecutiveGov. The outlet reports that the Pentagon is seeking roughly $50 billion in reconciliation funding to expand production of autonomous weapons, intended as a one-time allocation rather than a recurring annual appropriation, and that the stated goal is to move from procuring thousands of autonomous systems to fielding hundreds of thousands and eventually millions.

ExecutiveGov also reports, in its discussion of the administration's $350 billion reconciliation request, that Under Secretary of War and chief technology officer Emil Michael said the Pentagon would weigh giving up some of its pricier conventional weapon systems to keep money flowing to low-cost drones and autonomous systems if Congress rejected that funding. ExecutiveGov reports $53.6 billion for the Drone Dominance Program under the FY2027 budget request; Breaking Defense reports that the Pentagon has laid out plans to spend nearly $55 billion on the Defence Autonomous Working Group. The reporting does not establish how the two amounts relate.

Alongside the funding, Hegseth directed officials to identify regulations that hinder technology adoption and could be revised without congressional action, per ExecutiveGov. Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle said companies outside the traditional defence industrial base are gaining broader entry to Army programmes, and that developers will get greater use of Army test ranges, per the same report. The Drone Dominance initiative was launched in December 2025 to acquire approximately 340,000 small unmanned aircraft systems over two years using a $1 billion investment, per ExecutiveGov.

AUTOWARCOM was announced on September 30, 2026 in a speech at Quantico billed as a State of the Force address, as a new four-star command centred on drones with "service-like authorities built to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the joint force", per Breaking Defense. Breaking Defense's report of the speech names no commander, budget figure or headcount for the command. A September 30 Pentagon memo cited by Breaking Defense sets October 2027 as the target for having the necessary legislation in place to stand it up.

Creating the command is almost certain to require in-depth congressional approval, Breaking Defense reported, because the Hill has to approve giving combatant commands acquisition authorities, as it has with Special Operations and Cyber commands in the past. Breaking Defense also reported on September 30 that a Senate version of the fiscal 2027 defence authorisation bill called on the Pentagon to establish a Robotic and Autonomous Systems Combatant Command.

The same speech highlighted further cuts to general and flag officer posts, which drew criticism from Democratic senators. Senator Richard Blumenthal called Hegseth's approach to force cuts "draconian", and Senator Jack Reed said Hegseth had "taken countless reckless, partisan actions", per Breaking Defense. Reed called on Hegseth to provide oversight committees with written information before further cuts.

The proposed funding and the command's authorities both depend on Congress. Breaking Defense reported on October 14 that lawmakers had not approved a fiscal 2027 defence spending bill or moved ahead with the administration's separate reconciliation request, and on September 30 that the Hill has to approve giving combatant commands acquisition authorities. In the meantime, Derrick Anderson, assistant secretary of defence for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, said the Defence Autonomous Working Group is being absorbed by a new Task Force Autonomous Warfare inside Special Operations Command to support Project Agincourt and, eventually, AUTOWARCOM, so that there is no "stagnant pause", per Breaking Defense. The reporting does not specify the task force's acquisition authorities.

The Defence Autonomous Working Group was established as a follow-on to the Biden-era Replicator initiative and placed under Special Operations Command in 2025, per Breaking Defense. Breaking Defense reported that it remains unclear how much of the request Congress will approve, and that Hegseth reiterated the full request is necessary to "drive change" inside the department.

Emil Michael's statement, as reported by ExecutiveGov, is that the Pentagon would weigh giving up some pricier conventional weapon systems if Congress rejected the reconciliation funding. The outlet reports it as a conditional, not a decision.