Autonomous Warfare Command: What Project Agincourt Sets in Motion

October 15, 2026 — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth used the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting in Washington on October 14 to tie two initiatives together. Project Agincourt, the short-term effort he ordered on September 30, is the route to a new four-star Autonomous Warfare Command, he said, and it “is the end state of something we focused on since Day 1,” according to a Pentagon News account of the panel. He shared the stage with the acting Army and Navy secretaries, the Air Force secretary and Owen West, who now runs the Pentagon’s unmanned-systems portfolio office.

Hegseth told the audience that the department plans to field hundreds of thousands of one-way attack systems this year and millions in the years ahead. He described the planned command, which he called “Autowarcom,” as the body that will create “domain synthesis” so that autonomous systems “from space to what we’re doing sub-sea” can work together in a contested environment.

What the September 30 memo orders

The memorandum, titled “Project Agincourt – Pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command,” opens with a diagnosis rather than an org chart. After the Cold War, it says, the U.S. military bought “fewer, increasingly sophisticated weapons,” a strategy that worked for forty years; now “precise, low-cost weapons” produced at scale threaten “our costly legacy platforms.” It adds: “We do not have a decade to transition our procurement and doctrine.”

The memo gives the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS) two missions. The first is to lay the path to a functional combatant command with its own manpower, budget, acquisition authorities and career fields, working with Congress on the legislation needed for a target start date of October 1, 2027. The second is to prototype a new way of buying drones, one whose output “is not a particular drone, but the ability to adapt in combat, on the right side of the cost exchange.” In plain terms, staying on “the right side of the cost exchange” means spending less on each weapon or interceptor than an opponent spends to counter it.

The attachment sets deadlines. A plan of action and milestones is due to Hegseth within 30 days, which points to the end of October. The military departments must propose new occupational specialties for unmanned systems, and the portfolio office must report to him monthly. West, the head of the Defense Innovation Unit, and Navy SEAL Senior Chief Max Strasiser were named the office’s chief executive and chief operating officer.

How the services are lining up

The Army moved first. Acting Secretary Adam Telle signed a memo on October 1 creating the Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, or FASCOM, and ordering autonomous capabilities into at least six formation areas, from aviation and armor to sustainment, with priority systems fielded no later than fiscal 2028, the Army said. On October 13, Gen. Christopher LaNeve announced that the service had converted its months-old Futures and Concepts Command into FASCOM under a three-star general, Breaking Defense reported. At the panel, Telle said FASCOM “feeds up into Autowarcom.”

The Navy pointed to combat use. Acting Secretary Hung Cao said a Corsair unmanned vessel recovered two downed Apache pilots in the Strait of Hormuz and that underwater drones cleared mines there. He added that the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group sailed on October 8 with an unmanned surface vessel, the first strike group to deploy with one. Trade reporting identifies it as Leidos’ Seahawk.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said crewed aircraft will stay central but that autonomy may cost “five to 10 times” less for some combat power, depending on the comparison. He noted that autonomous fighters are already flying with experimental units at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.

Timeline: from drone memo to combatant command

The dated record below is compiled from the memo, Pentagon and Army releases, and defense trade reporting.

Compiled by Peter’s World from the Sept. 30, 2026 Project Agincourt memorandum, a Carahsoft policy summary, Pentagon News (Oct. 14, 2026), the U.S. Army (Oct. 2, 2026), Defense One (Sept. 30, 2026) and Breaking Defense (Oct. 13, 2026). The Oct. 30 date is calculated from the memo’s 30-day deadline.

Congress holds the deciding vote

A combatant command of this kind needs Congress, and Senate defense writers have drafted their own version. Section 917 of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s fiscal 2027 defense bill, as reported, says the President “may establish” a United States Robotic and Autonomous Systems Command. It would generate forces, run joint training and write doctrine, and each service would stand up a component command with dedicated career paths.

The Senate text also draws lines. It excludes space systems, autonomous cyber capabilities, nuclear command and control, integrated air and missile defense sensing, and attack-warning systems. It bars the new commander from controlling forces in another combatant commander’s area unless that commander transfers them or the secretary directs it.

Why it matters

This section is Peter’s World analysis based on the sources cited in this article.

The Pentagon and the Senate Armed Services Committee agree that autonomy needs a home of its own; they have not yet agreed on how much power that home should hold. Hegseth’s memo asks for budget and acquisition authority, the “service-like authorities” he described on September 30, which would let the command buy equipment rather than wait for the services to do it. The Senate draft is more cautious. It is permissive rather than mandatory, it carves out the most sensitive mission areas and it protects the authority of the regional commanders who would actually employ the drones. How the two versions are reconciled will decide whether Autowarcom is a powerful buyer with its own money or mainly a trainer and force provider.

The money question is also a contest among the services. Any budget the new command controls has to come from somewhere, and the memo already tells the services to work with West’s office on a “rebalanced” investment plan. The Army’s quick FASCOM move positions it to shape that plan rather than receive it.

The cost-exchange argument is the core of the case. Meink’s estimate comes with a caveat attached, and the Navy’s Hormuz examples show unmanned systems doing rescue and mine-clearing work, not yet replacing combat fleets. Watch for the plan of action due around October 30, the final defense bill text and the first proposed drone career fields.

Sources

• U.S. Department of War (Pentagon News): Hegseth: Autonomous Warfare Command Has Always Been End State (Oct. 14, 2026)
• Secretary of War: Memorandum, Project Agincourt – Pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command (Sept. 30, 2026)
• U.S. Army: Army announces Futures and Autonomous Systems Command (Oct. 2, 2026)
• Breaking Defense: LaNeve ‘redesignates’ Futures and Concepts Command as new FASCOM (Oct. 13, 2026)
• U.S. Congress: S. 4784, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 (reported in Senate), Sec. 917

Related coverage

• Full Transcript: Pete Hegseth, State of the Force (September 30, 2026)
• Collaborative Combat Aircraft: Drone Wingmen Wait on FY27 Money
• MUSV: Navy Orders 30 Drone Ships From Three Shipyards