Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference on Oct. 14 to press for expanded autonomous and robotic capabilities, while senior officials outlined changes to the Pentagon’s management of those programs.
The Defense Autonomous Working Group, or DAWG, is being absorbed into a new Task Force Autonomous Warfare within U.S. Special Operations Command, according to Breaking Defense. The task force is intended to support Project Agincourt, an umbrella initiative for unmanned technology, and eventually a proposed Autonomous Warfare Command known as AUTOWARCOM.
Derrick Anderson, the assistant secretary of defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, said the new structure would allow officials to continue developing autonomous capabilities while avoiding a pause in the effort. DAWG was established as a follow-on to the Biden-era Replicator initiative, which sought to increase production of drones and counter-drone systems. The group was placed under SOCOM in 2025 and focused on separate capability portfolios.
AUTOWARCOM is envisioned as a new four-star command with service-like authorities to scale autonomous and robotic systems across the joint force. Congress would have to approve the proposed command. In the meantime, the Pentagon has moved its Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for autonomy into Project Agincourt, which is led by Owen West, Breaking Defense reported.
Hegseth also promoted a major funding request for the department’s autonomy and robotics push. The Pentagon is seeking roughly $50 billion in reconciliation funding to accelerate development and production, Defense News reported. Hegseth described the proposed funding as a one-time investment rather than a recurring annual allocation.
The reconciliation request is separate from the Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal, which includes $53.6 billion for the Drone Dominance initiative. That proposal includes $16.9 billion for unmanned-system procurement, $14.4 billion for counter-unmanned systems, $13.5 billion for contested logistics, $4.5 billion for collaborative autonomy, and $4.3 billion for institutional systems and personnel, according to Defense News.
Congress has not approved the fiscal 2027 defense spending bill or acted on the administration’s separate reconciliation request. The final amount available for the autonomy and robotics effort therefore remains uncertain.
At the AUSA conference, Hegseth argued that the Pentagon must make autonomous weapons available in substantially larger quantities. He called for lower-cost systems that can be manufactured at scale and said the department should make it easier for new companies to compete in a defense market dominated by established contractors and expensive platforms. He also said traditional defense firms would continue to have an important role.
Hegseth urged acquisition officials to work more closely with warfighters so systems can be modified as operational needs change. He also called on officials to identify rules and directives that could be changed without new legislation, with the goal of reducing delays in the adoption of new technology.
The administration’s broader plan would give the Pentagon separate organizational and financial tools for expanding autonomous systems. Project Agincourt is intended to coordinate unmanned technology efforts in the near term, while the proposed AUTOWARCOM would provide a larger command structure if Congress authorizes it. The absorption of DAWG into the new task force is the first management change described publicly at the conference as officials work toward that broader structure.