U.S. Department of War's 'Project Agincourt' Issues Open Letter to Joint Force and Industry: "Autonomous Warfare Command to Launch October 1, 2027; Urgency Cannot Be an Excuse for Inaccuracy"

WASHINGTON, United States

The leadership of the U.S. Department of War's "Project Agincourt" has sent an open letter to the Joint Force and industry. The U.S. Department of War released an open letter from the leadership of Project Agincourt, which is tasked with establishing the four-star "Autonomous Warfare Command (AUTOWARCOM)." The Department of War stated in an October 21 (local time) press release that Project Agincourt Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Owen West and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Max Strasiser (Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer) unveiled an operational roadmap for establishing the Autonomous Warfare Command through an open letter sent to the Joint Force and industry partners. In an official article on October 23, the Department of War subsequently reported that the letter outlined the development trajectory for the Autonomous Warfare Command.

According to the Department of War press release, CEO West and COO Strasiser stated in the letter that "urgency does not excuse imprecision." The Department of War announced that the two presented a "combat-first" model that pushes procurement decisions and budgets directly down to frontline warfighters, measuring success not by milestones on paper, but by how quickly operational problems receive fielded, scalable solutions on the battlefield.

Letter: "Low-Cost Drones Have Changed the Character, Speed, and Economics of Warfare... Secretary Hegseth Took the Maximalist Path"

The letter released by Project Agincourt, titled "Building the Autonomous Warfare Command," was dated October 21, 2026. The letter noted that in 1928, then-Secretary of War Dwight Davis ordered the Army to experiment with an integrated mechanized force in which tanks, armored trucks, and motorized infantry fought as one, but the unit was soon disbanded, and mechanized forces were fragmented into adjuncts supporting legacy branches. The letter added that the U.S. Armored Force was not created until after Germany's blitzkrieg in 1940.

"We are confronted with a revolution of equal urgency," the letter stated, adding, "Low-cost drones have changed the character, speed, and economics of warfare." The letter continued: "Instead of repeating 1928, Secretary Hegseth took the maximalist path. He established Project Agincourt to transform how we fight."

According to the letter, Project Agincourt's mission is twofold. First, to launch a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command by October 1, 2027, ensuring its commander possesses the authorities necessary to lead the largest institutional transformation since the interwar era. Second, to continue the mission of the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS) while pioneering a new acquisition model that connects autonomous and robotics companies directly with frontline operational units. "The goal is not a specific drone," the letter stated, but "a system built to adapt at scale."

"Building a New Generational Edge with Superintelligence Dominance and an Unmatched Noncommissioned Officer Corps"

"This is not change at the margins," the letter stated. "Since the Cold War, American power projection has relied on a small inventory of exquisite, expensive weapons, but that model is strained." The letter added, "America can build a new generational edge by leveraging two strengths: superintelligence dominance and an unmatched noncommissioned officer corps, adapting on the front lines faster than any adversary."

"We will collaborate analytically with the Joint Staff, the Services, and above all, the operational units that will serve as our incubators," the letter stated. "Evidence will drive outcomes." The letter noted that competitions, exercises, and combat performance will determine which systems scale and which are terminated. The letter also emphasized that the power of the purse demands rigorous stewardship, stating, "To invert the cost-exchange dynamic, every auditable dollar we spend must reduce the cost-per-kill or lower force risk."

"We have placed a demanding test upon ourselves," the letter stated, noting, "This new system will not be declared ready on paper; combatant commanders must be able to employ it in the real world." The letter noted that while the new model must strengthen the individual Services, it must also enable each theater to build its own force mix, observing, "The ideal Pacific portfolio will not match Europe's." The letter called for professional courage to challenge legacy processes, platforms, and spending habits accumulated over decades, quoting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine: "If not us, who? If not now, when?"

"We are on the clock," the letter stated. "For the Autonomous Warfare Command, Agincourt must fuse operations with development to quickly eliminate the barriers that constrain our troops' initiative." The letter stated, "We will not replace one bureaucracy with another," pointing to the time it takes for an operational problem to receive an evaluated, scalable fielded solution as a key metric of success. The letter noted, "If we get this right, the Autonomous Warfare Command will institutionalize a mission-driven system where adaptation is the primary product, creating a next-generation development model for sustained American military superiority."

Launched by Secretary Hegseth's Sept. 30 Memo... "Implementation Plan to Be Submitted Within 30 Days, Monthly Reports to the Secretary"

Project Agincourt was launched through a memorandum signed by Secretary Hegseth on September 30, 2026, titled "Project Agincourt - Pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command." In the memorandum, Secretary Hegseth stated, "Since winning the Cold War, the United States steadily reduced its defense budget allocation, and our military adapted by buying fewer, increasingly exquisite weapons," adding, "That strategy worked for four decades, but warfare has changed dramatically and abruptly." Hegseth wrote, "Advanced computing has enabled mass-produced, low-cost precision weapons, and these systems increasingly threaten legacy high-cost platforms and disrupt our power projection," stressing that "we do not have a decade to pivot our procurement and doctrine."

According to the official X account of the Department of War Rapid Response, on the day he signed the memorandum, Secretary Hegseth announced the creation of the Autonomous Warfare Command, introducing it as "a new 4-star combatant command—with service-like authorities—built to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the Joint Force in the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history."

According to the memorandum, the Autonomous Warfare Command is a functional command leading the Joint Force's unmanned and autonomous warfare, equipped with dedicated personnel, budget, and acquisition authorities, and will establish dedicated military career tracks for officers and noncommissioned officers. Secretary Hegseth directed the DRPM-UxS to pursue immediate reorganization and work directly with Congress to secure necessary legislation, setting the target date for establishing the command as October 1, 2027. The memorandum designated West and Strasiser as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the DRPM-UxS, respectively.

The memorandum directed the DRPM-UxS, with support from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to submit a Plan of Action and Milestones (POAM) within 30 days for the Secretary's approval. The attachment to the memorandum required the POAM to include priority operational problems, Service force contributions, command relationships, and the definition of Initial Operational Capability (IOC). The attachment also directed the Service Secretaries, coordinated by the Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness, to submit proposals to establish or modify military occupational specialties (MOS) dedicated to unmanned and autonomous systems, and mandated that the DRPM-UxS report monthly to the Secretary on operational results, Service adoption, and progress against the plan. The memorandum stated that the Autonomous Warfare Command will define joint requirements and integrate Service-provided forces to support geographic combatant commanders, testing and rapidly iterating equipment and force design in harsh environments alongside realistic opposing forces to deploy what proves effective.

The Department of War announced that Secretary Hegseth moderated a Project Agincourt panel discussion at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting in Washington on October 14. According to the Department of War, Secretary Hegseth told CEO West at the event, "Project Agincourt is the end state of what we've been focused on since day one." Hegseth stated that he secured a $1 billion budget for drone dominance initiatives and placed it directly into the hands of operators on the front lines, adding that the Department of War plans to field hundreds of thousands of one-way attack systems this year, scaling to millions within the next few years. Secretary Hegseth said, "The Services are not fighting the concept; they believe in it."

According to the Department of War, Secretary Hegseth stated that while drones have existed for a long time, the failure to make them cheap or widely distribute them across the force was partly due to Pentagon bureaucracy, which will change through Project Agincourt and the future Autonomous Warfare Command. Secretary Hegseth said the Autonomous Warfare Command will generate "domain synthesis," enabling capabilities from space to subsea autonomous systems to operate together in contested environments. The Department of War announced that Secretary Hegseth stated the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and combatant commands are all leaning toward autonomous warfare, citing the autonomous warfare unit recently stood up by U.S. Southern Command as an example.

According to the Department of War, Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle said on the same panel that the Army announced the establishment of the "Future and Autonomous Systems Command (FASCOM)," stating, "FASCOM connects into the Autonomous Warfare Command." Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said, "Adaptability, scalability, and economics are key, and the only way to answer the threat is with autonomous systems." Secretary Meink added, "Depending on how you compare it, fielding portions of combat power with these autonomous systems is five to ten times cheaper than the alternative." Secretary Meink stated that the Air Force is already integrating autonomous combat aircraft into an experimental operational unit at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, noting that it took one year from first flight to integration into an experimental operational unit.

According to the Department of War, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said the Navy is accelerating its use of and investment in autonomous systems, noting, "The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group deployed on October 8 with medium unmanned surface vessels." Acting Secretary Cao stated that unmanned surface vessels are easier to build because they do not require the complex systems needed to sustain a crew, and will change the nature of surface warfare. In its October 23 article, the Department of War also published photographs of the Typhoon unmanned surface vessel demonstrating maritime interdiction during the U.S.-Japan exercise Keen Sword 27 in Iwakuni, Japan, and the Paladin counter-drone system used during Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) exercises at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, on October 8.

Sources (KST)

• U.S. Department of War press release (2026-10-21): https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4630269/department-of-wars-project-agincourt-accelerates-autonomous-warfare-command-to/
• Project Agincourt open letter "Building the Autonomous Warfare Command" (2026-10-21): https://media.defense.gov/2026/Oct/21/2004017243/-1/-1/1/PROJECT-AGINCOURT.PDF
• U.S. Department of War article (2026-10-23): https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4632827/
• Secretary of War memorandum "Project Agincourt - Pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command" (2026-09-30): https://media.defense.gov/2026/Sep/30/2004009304/-1/-1/1/PROJECT-AGINCOURT-PATHWAY-TO-THE-AUTONOMOUS-WARFARE-COMMAND.PDF
• U.S. Department of War article "Hegseth: Autonomous Warfare Command Has Always Been End State" (2026-10-14): https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4625816/hegseth-autonomous-warfare-command-has-always-been-end-state/
• Project Agincourt official X: https://x.com/DOWAgincourt/status/2112925350992707673
• Department of War Rapid Response official X: https://x.com/DOWResponse/status/2105392218441973846