Autonomous Warfare
Autonomous warfare is one of five domains explicitly cited by Secretary of War Hegseth in his FY27 posture testimony to the house-armed-services-committee as an area where “strategic competitors” (i.e., China and Russia) are investing and which the U.S. must counter. The other four are space dominance, hypersonic weapons, nuclear deterrence, and conventional capabilities (src-hegseth-fy27-posture-testimony-2026-04).
FY27 dollar lines (May 2026)
Per DefenseScoop (src-shield-ai-lucas-drone-swarm-2026-05):
- $53.6B for autonomy, drones, and contested logistics.
- $21B for munitions, counter-drone systems, and collaborative combat aircraft.
- Massive increase in the RDT&E line for the drone-focused defense-autonomous-warfare-group.
Operational realization
The shield-ai hivemind selection for the LUCAS one-way attack drone (May 2026) is the first concrete program example to combine collaborative-autonomy software with an Iranian-clone offensive UAS used in combat by centcom during operation-epic-fury. See drone-swarm for the concept.
Adjacent investment lines
- drone-dominance — named FY27 priority
- counter-uas — defensive complement; jiatf-401 portfolio
- AI / Pace-Setting Projects — USW(R&E) replaces traditional Programs of Record for AI; COTS AI tools rolled out across the workforce.
- Directed Energy — DIB postured for prototype quantities only; goal to scale to “tens to hundreds of units” through demand signaling.