Hegseth Unveils Major New Four Star Command for Autonomous Warfare [WATCH]

The Pentagon is creating a new four star command to direct the military’s growing push into autonomous warfare. War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the move Wednesday during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.

The Autonomous Warfare Command, known as AutoWarCom, will receive authorities similar to those of a military service. Hegseth said the command is intended to expand autonomous and robotic capabilities across the military.

The effort targets an acquisition system that Hegseth said cannot keep pace with rapid technological change on the battlefield. “The pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it,” Hegseth said.

The announcement came three months after Hegseth consolidated the War Department’s unmanned and autonomous systems under a new Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems, known as DRPM-UxS. That office oversees the development, procurement, fielding and sustainment of those systems throughout the department.

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The DRPM-UxS reports directly to Deputy Secretary of War Steven Feinberg. It also assumed oversight of existing efforts, including Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the Defense Innovation Unit and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group.

Hegseth also introduced Project Agincourt, an interim initiative designed to prepare the military for AutoWarCom. He selected Owen West, director of the Defense Innovation Unit, and Navy SEAL Senior Chief Max Strasiser to lead the project for the next year.

Hegseth described their arrangement as a “CEO, COO partnership,” assigning distinct responsibilities to each leader. West will concentrate on strategic risks, resources and scale, while Strasiser will focus on operational problem solving and the realities of using autonomous systems in combat.

A four star commander will soon be named to lead AutoWarCom, according to Hegseth. Until the command is established, West and Strasiser will guide Project Agincourt and help lay the groundwork for the broader organization.

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Agincourt will test what Hegseth called “warfighting acquisition,” a model that brings military operators, engineers and private companies together through rapid development cycles. The initiative will also move acquisition decisions and funding closer to combatant commands and frontline units.

“This model fuses operators with entrepreneurs in rapid adaptation cycles while distributing decisions and dollars closer to frontline units to combatant commands,” Hegseth said. The structure is intended to connect those operating military systems with those designing and producing emerging technologies.

Realistic training exercises will serve as testing grounds for autonomous systems, along with combat when possible. Those tests will help determine which technologies should be expanded quickly across the military.

The War Department will also begin introducing new military occupational specialty frameworks that support the transition toward autonomous warfare. Hegseth said the frameworks will create career paths for a new generation of autonomous warfighters.

The Pentagon needs both sophisticated high end weapons and substantial numbers of lower cost autonomous systems, Hegseth said. He described that approach as a “high-low mix,” comparing advanced weapons to lightning and massed drones and other autonomous systems to a thunderstorm’s wind and rain.

“Today, we need both quality and quantity,” Hegseth said. His remarks presented AutoWarCom as a mechanism for moving autonomous systems from development into military use at the speed demanded by changing battlefield conditions.

Hegseth also gave the establishment of the command a biblical frame, saying the department was “putting on the full armor of God. Because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual.”

Ukraine offers a lesson in the importance of systems that can be rapidly adapted as battlefield conditions shift, Hegseth said. He argued that the United States must develop, test and modify autonomous systems at a pace matching the evolution of warfare.

The broader effort is designed to move frontline military leaders closer to the engineers and companies creating new technologies. Hegseth described that connection between operators and developers as the military’s greatest comparative advantage.

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