Army to establish new autonomy command, acquisition executive

WASHINGTON — The Army is standing up a new command and a new acquisition office dedicated to further prioritizing autonomous technology, according to a service spokesperson and a memo reviewed by Breaking Defense.

The changes, first reported by Axios, come on the heels of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s newly announced initiatives at the Pentagon to create a new four-star command, called Autonomous Warfare Command (AUTOWARCOM), centered on drones and similar technology as well as a new working group on the future of defense. 

According to a Thursday memo reviewed by Breaking Defense and signed by Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle, orders the creation of the Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, or FASCOM. 

“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made it clear: We are done with the bureaucratic inertia holding back modernization,” Telle said in a statement provided to Breaking Defense today. “The Army is rapidly advancing to maintain our lethal edge. We are forging the U.S. Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command to get cutting-edge technology into the hands of Soldiers, while prioritizing autonomy in our formations, our acquisitions, and our training to dominate the future of warfare.” 

The memo also designates a new Program Acquisition Executive (PAE) for Autonomy. Currently, the service’s autonomy efforts are under Capability Portfolio Executive Mission Autonomy, which falls under PAE Layered Protection and Integration.

Also outlined in the memo, titled, “Army Autonomous Initiatives,”  is the decision to conduct new “autonomous force development[s]” to create force structure that can align with autonomous capabilities in aviation, armored and sustainment and training formations.  The memo also orders the new PAE to “prioritize the acquisition and fielding of” autonomous fires, combat vehicles, watercraft resupply, manned and unmanned platform collaborative teaming and more “no later than” fiscal 2028.

Lastly, the order states that the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs will expand the authorizations of the service’s 15X, which is the new tactical unmanned aircraft systems specialist unit, and the 390A unit, which is the robotics technician specialist unit, “to all applicable Army units.”

The Army’s push to establish a new command and PAE, coupled with Hegseth’s plans to establish AUTOWARCOM, come as part of a larger effort to scale drone production and push those weapons out to the force. That push has included the Drone Dominance program to buy more aerial weapons, the creation of the Army-led Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401) and, as first reported by Breaking Defense, the creation of Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager (DRPM) for autonomy.