Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a Quantico parade ground on Wednesday to announce that the Pentagon will create a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command, a functional combatant headquarters meant to scale drones, robotics, and AI-assisted targeting across every service faster than the department has managed in peacetime before.
Speaking to roughly six hundred enlisted Marines and junior officers at what he said would become an annual “State of the Force” address, Hegseth said the command—often abbreviated AUTOWARCOM in briefing slides—would receive “service-like authorities” to design and field autonomous and semi-autonomous systems. A Pentagon memo released alongside the speech sets an target stand-up date of 1 October 2027, but notes that Congress must authorize the new command before it can operate with full legal powers.
From Project Agincourt to a permanent four-star shop
Until lawmakers act, Hegseth said the department would run an interim effort called Project Agincourt, named for the 1415 battle. The project is supposed to pair front-line operators with entrepreneurs in rapid adaptation cycles while pushing money and decisions closer to units that already fly, sail, or patrol with unmanned systems. Defense Innovation Unit director Owen West and Navy SEAL Senior Chief Max Strasiser—described in the speech as the first enlisted SEAL to graduate from Navy Test Pilot School—will guide the interim work, drawing on existing drone-dominance programs and DIU portfolios.
Hegseth argued that Ukraine’s battlefield had proved what many junior troops already knew: cheap, networked drones can destroy expensive armor and rewrite targeting timelines. “Drone warfare supercharged by AI-enabled targeting is the biggest battlefield revolution in generations,” he said, adding that when he arrived at the Pentagon there was “scant urgency” in the autonomy domain despite years of service-level experiments.
Rank reductions and parallel initiatives
The secretary paired the command announcement with a personnel initiative: a 20 percent reduction in general and flag officers by January 2027, framed as trimming headquarters bloat so savings can flow toward autonomous programs. He also previewed Project Meridian, a longer-range study of future warfare that will include tech investor Palmer Luckey, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Elon Musk among its advisers, according to briefing materials distributed to reporters.
Other initiatives unveiled at Quantico included a religious-affairs office reporting directly to the secretary, a plan to stand up cadet programs at five universities, requirements for major installations to generate independent power, and exploration of new domestic base construction. Hegseth reprised themes from a senior-leader gathering at the same base a year earlier, claiming the department is “well on its way” toward those earlier fitness and culture goals even as he pressed for faster technology adoption.
What happens next on Capitol Hill
Lawmakers have already floated a drone-focused combatant command in draft 2027 defense policy language, which could give Hegseth a legislative runway if committee chairs agree with the functional-command model rather than expanding an existing service portfolio. Until then, the services retain separate acquisition chains, and it remains unclear how AUTOWARCOM would relate to U.S. Special Operations Command or U.S. Space Command, both of which already touch autonomous systems.
Industry executives watching the speech said the critical test will be whether Project Agincourt can award production contracts at the speed Hegseth promised without breaking safety or export-control rules. For the troops in the audience, the more immediate question is who leads the command once confirmed and whether their units see new training ranges and munitions stocks this fiscal year, or another round of briefing slides.