US DoW: Secretary Hegseth announces Project Agincourt – Pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command

Speaking directly to active-duty E-6s and O-3s at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s unveiled six major strategic initiatives that will govern the Department’s direction for years to come, one of them being the creation of the Autonomous Warfare Command. Here is the text of the Memorandum for Senior Pentagon leadership Commanders of the Combatant Commands Defense Agency and DoW Field Activity Directors.

Quantico, Sept. 30, 2026 – After its Cold War victory, the U.S. steadily reduced its budget allocation for defense.

Our military adapted by buying fewer, increasingly sophisticated weapons – a strategy that worked for forty years. Warfare, however, has changed dramatically and suddenly. Advanced computing now enables precise, low-cost weapons to be produced at massive scale. These systems increasingly threaten our costly legacy platforms and disrupt our force projection. Urgent change is required. We do not have a decade to transition our procurement and doctrine. Procrastination puts American lives at risk.

To execute this mandate, I direct the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS) to lead Project Agincourt. Project Agincourt will execute the following missions:

• Establish the pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command, a 4-star functional combatant command that will lead the Joint Force in unmanned anciautonomous warfare. This command will possess directed manpower, budget, acquisition authorities and create dedicated military career pathways for Officers and Enlisted personnel. DRPM-UxS will drive the immediate organizational shifts required and collaborate directly with Congress to secure necessary legislation with a target establishment date of October 1, 2027.

• Execute the existing DRPM-UxS mission while prototyping a new acquisition model for unmanned and autonomous systems. Teaming operators with innovators and competitive manufacturers, DRPM-UxS will push decisions and dollars to the edge of our operational forces. This must yield a repeatable procurement system whose output is not a particular drone, but the ability to adapt in combat, on the right side of the cost exchange. Success requires fusing development with operations and aggressively scaling what works.

To spearhead this transformation, Owen West and Max Strasiser will serve as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively, of the DRPM-UxS. DRPM-UxS will work collaboratively with the Services to recommend a rebalanced Joint Force investment allocation to the Deputy Secretary of War. Within 30 days of this memorandum, DRPM-UxS, with the support of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), will submit a plan of action and milestones (POAM) for my approval. Concurrently, the CJCS will designate a senior Joint Staff planning counterpart to support this effort. Initial work will proceed immediately under existing authorities, concurrent with the execution of the attached Accountability and Implementation Requirements.

Autonomous Warfare Command will define joint needs and integrate Service-provided forces in support of geographic combatant commanders. It will test equipment and force designs with realistic opposition in demanding exercises and rugged environments, modify rapidly, and field what works. We must build a wartime arsenal whose main product is adaptation at the edge. Our warfighters – and the American people who rely on them for protection – deserve nothing less.

Source US DoW

Photo © C.Taggart, US Army Pathway for Innovation and Technology