The Pentagon is accelerating plans to deploy hundreds of thousands of one-way attack drones in 2026 and expand production into the millions in the coming years, as the United States prepares to establish a dedicated military command for autonomous warfare.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the scale of the ambition at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting in Washington on Wednesday, outlining a strategy to combine artificial intelligence, robotics and commercial manufacturing to rapidly expand the military’s unmanned capabilities.
“Ultimately we will be dealing with hundreds of thousands of one-way attack systems this year and into the millions in years to come at a pace that this department’s never ever seen before,” Hegseth said.
The plan signals a major shift towards mass-produced, relatively inexpensive autonomous weapons, moving away from an acquisition model that often takes years to develop, procure and deploy new military equipment.
Pentagon seeks $50 billion to accelerate drone production
The Pentagon is seeking approximately $50 billion in additional funding to accelerate the development and production of autonomous and robotic systems. The proposed expenditure is separate from its fiscal 2027 budget request, which includes $53.6 billion for the broader Drone Dominance initiative and related capabilities.
The additional funding remains subject to congressional action and has not been approved as money already available for spending.
Under the Drone Dominance programme, the Army has previously outlined plans to acquire approximately 340,000 small unmanned aircraft systems over two years. The latest push aims to expand the availability of such platforms while accelerating their integration into intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, precision strikes and logistics.
Hegseth said the military needed to overcome bureaucratic obstacles that had slowed the adoption of inexpensive unmanned systems, despite their growing importance in modern conflicts.
The proposed expansion is intended to give American commanders access to autonomous systems at a scale that conventional weapons procurement processes have struggled to deliver. It would also bring engineers, manufacturers and military operators into closer cooperation, allowing battlefield feedback to inform equipment development and upgrades more quickly.
Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle said the service was working to expand technology developers’ access to military testing facilities and strengthen training in robotics and autonomous systems.
New four-star command to coordinate autonomous warfare
The Pentagon announced plans for the Autonomous Warfare Command, known as AutoWarCom, on September 30. Project Agincourt is serving as an interim initiative to prepare the organisation, which the department aims to establish by October 1, 2027, subject to the necessary approvals and organisational arrangements.
Hegseth said the proposed command would be led by a four-star military officer with the authority to coordinate autonomous warfare initiatives across the armed services and accelerate decision-making.
“The services are not fighting us on this concept. They believe in it,” he said.
The initiative is expected to involve the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Space Force, alongside the military’s geographic and functional combatant commands.
The command would not focus solely on purchasing weapons. Its responsibilities would also include coordinating development, training, operational deployment and changes to military doctrine as autonomous technologies become more widely used.
Military leaders are also examining autonomous aircraft, unmanned maritime systems and platforms designed to operate in contested environments where communications, navigation and conventional supply lines may be disrupted.