The Army ordered a new autonomous systems command a day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a joint push to scale unmanned warfare across the force.
Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle signed an Oct. 1 memo creating the U.S. Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, known as FASCOM. The order followed Hegseth’s Sept. 30 State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, where he unveiled plans for a broader Autonomous Warfare Command.
Military Times reported that Telle’s memo also puts one office in charge of buying the Army’s priority autonomous systems and sets a fiscal 2028 target to field them. The Army is moving to keep a lethal edge as cheap, precise weapons built at scale threaten the expensive aircraft, ships, and vehicles the military has long relied on.
In a statement released by the Army, Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle said:
"The Army is rapidly advancing to maintain our lethal edge,"
Telle added:
"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."
Hegseth’s AutoWarCom sets the joint frame
Hegseth announced the Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom, during the Quantico address and signed a same-day memo titled “Project Agincourt: Pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command.” The project name nods to the 1415 battle in which an outnumbered English army used the longbow to defeat a larger, heavily armored French force.
The Agincourt memo puts the Pentagon’s unmanned systems office in charge of the groundwork. It describes AutoWarCom as a four-star functional combatant command with dedicated manpower, budget, and authority to buy equipment, authorities that require an act of Congress, much as Congress structured U.S. Special Operations Command when it was created in 1987.
The memo says AutoWarCom will “define joint needs and integrate Service-provided forces in support of geographic combatant commanders.” The goal is to establish the command by Oct. 1, 2027. A plan laying out command relationships and what forces each service will contribute is due by Oct. 30.
Those timelines sit alongside other recent Army moves under Hegseth’s watch, including when the Army ended anonymous equal opportunity complaints after he ordered a crackdown on bad-faith filings.
FASCOM gets acquisition teeth and a 2028 fielding clock
Telle tasked the Army vice chief of staff with establishing FASCOM. He directed the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology to stand up a Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Autonomy with single authority over purchases of priority autonomous systems.
The Army reorganized weapons buying last year under six portfolio acquisition executives. Autonomy becomes another.
The memo tells the Army to prioritize buying and fielding, no later than fiscal 2028, autonomous systems in several categories: fires, including artillery, rockets, and missiles; combat vehicles; watercraft for resupply; breaching systems such as those that clear minefields; reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition systems; and drones and robots that work alongside crewed vehicles and aircraft.
That procurement push tracks with recent Army drone buying, including when the Army awarded a $10.64 million deal for Ukrainian Raybird drones.
Force managers must work out how to fit autonomous systems into at least six unit types: aviation, armor, fires, sustainment, engineer, and training. The assistant secretary overseeing manpower and personnel policy is directed to add drone and robotics specialist positions to all applicable Army units. The specialties already exist on the books, including the 15X tactical unmanned aircraft systems specialist and the 390A robotics technician.
Open questions remain on leadership, basing, and money
The memo does not name who will lead FASCOM, where it will be based, or when it will stand up. Army spokesperson Col. Marty Meiners told reporters the details are still coming.
Meiners said:
"Specifics on structure, command, mission, etc. will be announced at a future date,"
The Army also said it had no further information beyond its release on how FASCOM will relate to the Army Transformation and Training Command, known as T2COM, or to AutoWarCom, or how the changes will be funded.
T2COM was formed in October 2025 when the Army merged Futures Command with Training and Doctrine Command. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas. A T2COM spokesperson referred FASCOM questions back to Army headquarters. The “Futures” name now reappears in FASCOM.
The initiatives build on work already underway. The Army set up a Capability Program Executive Office for Mission Autonomy earlier this year to work autonomous technology into weapons programs across the force. Neither the memo nor the Army release says whether that office will move under the new Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Autonomy.
Broader Army posture changes continue in parallel, from leadership decisions such as when Hegseth blocked six more Army officers from two-star rank to overseas basing signals like plans tied to a new U.S. Army presence in Poland.
Why the Army is accelerating now
Project Agincourt’s core argument is straightforward. Cheap, precise weapons produced at massive scale now threaten the costly platforms the United States has counted on for decades. Hegseth framed AutoWarCom as the vehicle to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the military with service-like authorities.
FASCOM is the Army’s near-term answer inside that larger design: one command focused on futures and autonomy, one acquisition executive with clear buying power, a fiscal 2028 fielding priority list, unit-by-unit integration work, and more drone and robotics specialists in the ranks.
Functional combatant commands organized around a mission rather than a region already exist. U.S. Cyber Command is the common comparison. AutoWarCom is meant to join that model once Congress provides the authorities. The Army is not waiting on that vote to start building its own piece.
Safety and readiness remain live concerns for the force even as new commands take shape, a point underscored by the Army probe into cascading safety breakdowns in the Black Hawk crash near Reagan National.
What the Oct. 1 memo does make plain is the priority. Autonomy is no longer a side project. It is being written into acquisitions, force structure, training, and personnel policy on a fixed clock.
America’s adversaries are massing cheap drones and autonomous weapons. The Army’s job is to field better ones faster, and put them in soldiers’ hands before the next fight decides the point for us.
