The US Army announced on October 2 that it is forming the US Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, known as FASCOM. A memo signed by Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle also creates a new acquisition executive for autonomy. It follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s September 30 speech announcing a Pentagon-wide autonomous warfare command.
New to this? Read it in simple words
- The US Army is creating a new command for drones and robot systems.
- A new office will buy these autonomous systems faster.
- The Army wants its priority systems ready by fiscal 2028.
- It follows a Pentagon plan for an autonomous warfare command.
- Autonomous system
- A machine, like a drone, that can act with little human control.
- Command
- A large military organisation in charge of one area of work.
- Fiscal year
- The US government’s budget year, which starts on October 1.
What the memo does
The memo creates FASCOM to lead autonomous force development in at least six areas: aviation, armor, fires, sustainment, engineering and training, the Army says.
It also sets up a Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Autonomy to buy the systems. Breaking Defense, which reviewed the memo, says the office takes over existing autonomy work.
Priority systems include autonomous fires, combat vehicles, watercraft resupply, breaching, reconnaissance, and teams of crewed and uncrewed machines. They are to be fielded by fiscal 2028 at the latest.
From the Army’s announcement of October 2, Breaking Defense and Military Times.
In the Army’s words
“We are done with the bureaucratic inertia holding back modernization,” Telle said in the Army’s announcement.
“This is about combat readiness to destroy the enemy and ensure our Army never enters a fair fight,” Telle added.
The Army says it will also add more drone operators and robotics technicians across its units. It gave no numbers.
The Pentagon push behind it
Axios first reported the memo, a day after Hegseth’s speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30.
In that speech Hegseth announced a new four-star Autonomous Warfare Command and Project Agincourt, an interim effort to set it up, Military Times reports. “The pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it,” Hegseth said.
GovConWire reports a second project, Meridian, a 120-day study of future warfare. No source says how FASCOM will relate to the new Pentagon command.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1
- 2Research · October 2, 2026Exclusive: Army creates autonomy command amid Hegseth’s robo-warfare push Axios
- 3Research · October 2, 2026Army to establish new autonomy command, acquisition executive Breaking Defense
- 4Research · September 30, 2026Hegseth announces new four-star command for autonomous warfare Military Times
- 5
We read the Army’s announcement and compared Axios (via its Yahoo copy) and Breaking Defense, which reviewed the memo separately. Outlets differ on the memo’s exact day, so we say it was signed this week. The acquisition office’s name differs slightly between the Army and Breaking Defense; we use the Army’s. Hegseth’s speech details come from Military Times and GovConWire.