The U.S. Army is moving to build robots and other autonomous machines into more of its units. In a memo the Army announced on Oct. 2, Acting Army Secretary Adam R. Telle directed the Army to set up the U.S. Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, known as FASCOM, and ordered changes to how the service organizes units, buys equipment and staffs them.
The memo follows Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Sept. 30 State of the Force address. There, Hegseth announced an Autonomous Warfare Command meant to scale autonomous warfare across all the armed services. The Department of War says it aims to set it up as a four-star command by Oct. 1, 2027. The Army says the memo carries out Hegseth's direction to expand autonomous and robotic capabilities across the armed forces.
The memo lists five orders. The Army's force management office will build autonomous systems into at least six kinds of units: aviation, armor, artillery, logistics, engineer and training. A new Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Autonomy will hold single authority to buy the Army's priority autonomous systems quickly. The Army's top acquisition official is told to make it a priority to buy autonomous systems and get them to troops no later than fiscal year 2028, which ends in September 2028. The list includes artillery, combat vehicles, boats that carry supplies, machines that clear paths through obstacles, and scouting and targeting systems, plus teams of crewed and uncrewed machines.
The memo also covers people. The Army will add slots for two specialties, drone specialists (known as 15X) and robotics technicians (390A), to every unit where they apply. The Army says the move builds on an office it activated earlier this year, the Capability Program Executive Office for Mission Autonomy, to bring autonomous technology into several Army programs.
The Army frames the move in combat terms. Telle said the goal is to put new technology in soldiers' hands and "dominate the future of warfare." The memo sets priorities and a deadline but does not include a budget or say how the systems will be paid for. Neither the memo nor the Army's announcement says how much control people will keep over autonomous weapons.
It is not yet clear who will lead FASCOM, where it will be based, what it will cost, how it will work with the planned Autonomous Warfare Command, or which systems the Army will buy first.