U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth on Sept. 30 announced the creation of an
Autonomous Warfare Command, a new four‑star joint command to scale U.S.
autonomous and robotic combat capabilities and to oversee drones, artificial
intelligence and command-and-control systems. The Wall Street Journal reported
the move is intended to overhaul Pentagon procurement, testing and deployment of
drones and other advanced technologies, and that the Pentagon is seeking to
double autonomy-related spending and has proposed about $74 billion for drone
and counter-drone technologies in its budget request.
