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).
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.