War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday the creation of a new four-star military command dedicated to autonomous warfare, part of a broader effort to expand the Pentagon’s use of drones, robotics, and artificial intelligence on the battlefield.
The Autonomous Warfare Command, dubbed AUTOWARCOM, will receive “service-like authorities” intended to accelerate the development, purchase, and deployment of autonomous systems across the military, Hegseth said during his annual State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
“Drone warfare supercharged by SI-enabled targeting is the biggest battlefield revolution in generations,” Hegseth said, using the Trump administration’s preferred term “super intelligence” in place of artificial intelligence.
The new command represents an effort to move decisions about emerging technology closer to the troops who use it, rather than relying primarily on the Pentagon’s traditional procurement system.
Hegseth pointed to Ukraine as an example of how militaries must be able to adapt autonomous systems rapidly to changing battlefield conditions.
“Ukraine’s lesson is not that one type of drone wins wars, but rather the need for a purpose-built system that maximizes the ability to adapt,” Hegseth said. “We will fuse procurement with operations at scale, and then allow warfighters and engineers and entrepreneurs to learn, adapt, and rapidly iterate on their domain and their mission.”
Additionally, Hegseth said he will launch Project Agincourt to prepare the military for AUTOWARCOM, a project intended to be an interim initiative to test the structure that will eventually underpin the new command.
Under the project, operators will work more directly with tech companies while more purchasing authority and funding are pushed toward combatant commands and front-line units. Training exercises and, when possible, combat exercises will be used to test technology and quickly expand systems that prove successful.
Heseth called the model “warfighting acquisition,” contrasting it with procurement decisions centered at the Pentagon.
“By removing unnecessary layers, reducing the distance between our warfighters and our world-leading innovators, and then giving the right people the authority to act, Project Agincourt will pilot innovation at the edge in a way that only Americans can do,” Hegseth said.
The war secretary said he will appoint former Assistant Defense Secretary Owen West and Navy SEAL Senior Chief Max Strasiser to lead Project Agincourt over the next year, and eventually, appoint a four-star officer to lead AUTOWARCOM.
“Theirs is going to be a CEO-COO partnership,” Hegseth said of the Project Agincourt leaders. “Owen focused on strategic risk, resources, and scale, and Max focused on operational problem solving and the realities of employment in combat.”
The project will also include examining how autonomous systems affect military equipment, doctrine, and organization. Hegseth said the military services will begin establishing new occupational frameworks to create career paths for troops specializing in autonomous warfare.
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Hegseth said the overhaul builds on the Pentagon’s existing Drone Dominance program and Task Force 401, efforts intended to cut procurement delays and speed autonomous technology into military units.
“Today, with Autonomous War Command, AUTOWARCOM, we institutionalize and we supercharge the era of SI robotics and autonomous systems, all in order to win,” he said.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
