Pentagon Frames Project Agincourt as Pathway to Proposed Autonomous Warfare Command by 2027

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the Army’s largest annual gathering on Wednesday to publicly frame Project Agincourt as the pathway to a new four-star Autonomous Warfare Command, the clearest signal yet that the Pentagon wants to centralize autonomous warfare under a dedicated mission-based command by Oct. 1, 2027, if Congress approves it.

Speaking at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington on a panel titled “Project Agincourt: Autonomous Warfare,” Hegseth described a planned command that would sit above today’s scattered service and office-level efforts. According to National Defense’s coverage of the panel, he said the command would “change the nature of U.S. warfare.”

That matters because the proposal goes beyond speeding up drone or robotics programs. Reporting on the Pentagon’s plan says the envisioned organization would be a functional combatant command — a top-tier military command organized around a mission rather than a region — with its own manpower, budget and acquisition authorities. In practical terms, that would give autonomous and unmanned systems a central headquarters with more power to direct priorities across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

Hegseth tied the idea directly to a Sept. 30 memorandum titled “Project Agincourt — Pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command.” Multiple defense outlets and legal and industry briefings have reported that the memo put the Pentagon’s Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems, or DRPM-UxS, in charge of leading the effort and producing a 30-day plan of action and milestones. Those same reports said the Pentagon is targeting Oct. 1, 2027, for the command’s establishment, but only if Congress authorizes and funds it.

The public remarks add to a broader internal reorganization already underway. Earlier this year, the Pentagon consolidated a range of autonomy and unmanned-systems work under DRPM-UxS. Project Agincourt appears to be the next step: turning that portfolio-management structure into a proposed operational command with more formal authorities.

Hegseth said the military departments are aligned with the concept. “The services are not fighting us on this concept. They believe in it,” he said, according to National Defense. He added: “You will see more announcements from each [service], and then you get to watch it being operationalized in real time.”

One sign that service-level implementation is already beginning came from the Army. Military Times reported that the service issued an Oct. 1 memo directing the establishment of a U.S. Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, or FASCOM, explicitly building on Hegseth’s Sept. 30 remarks. That move does not create the broader Pentagon-wide command Hegseth described, but it suggests the proposal is already driving changes inside at least one branch.

Owen West, director of the Defense Innovation Unit, is leading DRPM-UxS, according to reporting cited in the research, and moderated Wednesday’s panel. His dual role underscores that this is as much an organizational and budget-power play as a technology story: the Pentagon is trying to move autonomous warfare from a collection of programs into a structure built to coordinate requirements, procurement and operations across the department.

Still, the command Hegseth outlined does not yet exist. A new combatant command with its own budget and acquisition powers cannot simply be declared by Pentagon leadership; it would require congressional authorization and appropriations. Reporting indicates the Senate Armed Services Committee’s fiscal 2027 defense bill includes language for a robotic or autonomous command, but the House and Senate are not yet aligned.

For now, Project Agincourt is best understood as a proposal and a planning pathway, not an accomplished reorganization. But with Hegseth now publicly attaching a four-star command, a target date and service-level follow-through to the effort, the Pentagon has made its intent unusually plain.