By George Kaminsky

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal asks for about $54.6 billion for the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, up from roughly $226 million at the current level, The Next Web reported in its coverage of the planned Autonomous Warfare Command.

The group is one of the unmanned programs overseen by a single drone office that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth set up in June. That office also covers Joint Interagency Task Force 401, which is focused on countering enemy drones.

The figure is a budget request, and Congress decides what is actually appropriated. The Autonomous Warfare Command itself is planned for October 1, 2027 and needs congressional legislation. Until then, the Pentagon is using Project Agincourt as the bridge. According to the memo text published by EDR Magazine, the office responsible for unmanned systems leads that effort, with Defense Innovation Unit Director Owen West and Navy SEAL Senior Chief Max Strasiser serving as its chief executive and chief operating officer.

Hegseth’s memo says advanced computing now lets militaries build precise, low-cost weapons at massive scale, and that those weapons increasingly threaten costly legacy platforms. It says the department does not have a decade to change its procurement and doctrine. The proposed spending is the clearest sign yet of how far the Pentagon is willing to shift money toward that view.

The $54.6 billion figure is as reported by The Next Web, and that coverage did not cite the underlying budget documents. A jump of more than 200 times would be an extraordinary reallocation, so the details are worth confirming as the request moves through Congress.

Sources: The Next Web; DefenseScoop; EDR Magazine.