The Pentagon plans to establish a new four-star combatant command focused on autonomous and robotic capabilities across the U.S. military. Tentatively named Autonomous Warfare Command, or AUTOWARCOM, the organization would have service-like authorities for operational activities involving uncrewed systems, robotics and what the administration calls “super intelligence,” or SI. TWZ reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the plan during a State of the Force address at the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia.
The command cannot be created without congressional approval. A Pentagon memo sets a target date of Oct. 1, 2027, for establishing AUTOWARCOM, making the announcement a proposal rather than an immediate change to the military’s command structure.
The memo says AUTOWARCOM would define joint needs and integrate forces provided by the military services in support of geographic combatant commanders. It would also test equipment and force designs in demanding exercises and difficult operating environments, then modify and field systems that perform effectively.
Those proposed responsibilities would give the command a role in testing how autonomous and robotic systems perform under realistic conditions before they are used operationally. The memo says the command would conduct exercises with realistic opposition and in rugged environments. Systems and force designs that prove effective could then be changed rapidly and moved toward fielding.
Hegseth presented the plan as part of a broader push to accelerate the use of uncrewed systems in the air, at sea and on land. He pointed to the growing availability of inexpensive computing, commercial manufacturing and autonomous systems capable of delivering low-cost, high-precision strikes.
The secretary argued that the United States must retain high-end weapons while also using large numbers of drones and other attritable autonomous systems. He described that combination as a high-low mix, pairing advanced strike systems with lower-cost systems intended to impose sustained pressure on an adversary. The speech also cited lessons from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as a reason to move more quickly in developing and fielding autonomous capabilities.
Hegseth said the command would help institutionalize the use of robotics and autonomous systems across the joint force. The Pentagon’s announcement described AUTOWARCOM as a functional combatant command, broadly comparable in its command status to U.S. Special Operations Command or U.S. Space Command, but focused on operational activities involving autonomous and robotic capabilities.
The proposed command would not itself immediately place new systems in the hands of troops. Its stated functions include defining joint needs, integrating service-provided forces, testing equipment and force designs, and fielding systems that meet operational demands. The Pentagon has not yet established the command, and its proposed authorities and relationship to work already being conducted within the individual military services remain to be worked out.
The announcement comes as the services continue developing their own approaches to autonomous systems. The Navy, for example, recently established the Robot and Autonomous Systems Warfighting Development Center at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia. The center is intended to train sailors to use autonomous technology and test systems in conditions that resemble their expected operating environments.
That Navy center is designed to evaluate systems at sea, under stress, against simulated threats and during degraded communications. It also aims to develop training that can be distributed across the fleet. The Navy has described its intended cycle as field, employ, learn, improve and scale.
AUTOWARCOM’s proposed role would extend beyond a single service’s training and development center. The Pentagon memo assigns it responsibility for integrating forces supplied by the services in support of geographic combatant commanders, while also testing equipment and force designs through demanding exercises. The proposal therefore links development and experimentation with the operational use of autonomous capabilities, subject to congressional approval.
Hegseth announced the command alongside two other initiatives, Project Agincourt and Project Meridian. Those efforts address acquisition and future-warfare studies, but AUTOWARCOM is the central organizational proposal. Its creation would depend on action by Congress and would not occur before the Pentagon’s current target date of October 2027.
Until then, the Pentagon’s plan remains a proposal for a new command with service-like authorities. The department must still secure congressional approval and determine how the command will define requirements, integrate forces, test systems and move successful designs toward operational use.