Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday the Pentagon is requesting roughly $50 billion in reconciliation funding to scale its stockpile of autonomous weapons from thousands of units to the millions, speaking at the Project Agincourt panel at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington.
The one-time investment, separate from the fiscal 2027 budget request, is intended to accelerate development and production of autonomous and robotic systems, Hegseth said. The fiscal 2027 request includes $53.6 billion for the Drone Dominance initiative, covering $16.9 billion for unmanned-system procurement, $14.4 billion for counter-unmanned systems, $13.5 billion for contested logistics, $4.5 billion for collaborative autonomy, and $4.3 billion for institutional systems and personnel. The budget request does not establish that the reconciliation funding is the same money or dedicated entirely to drone purchases.
“Ultimately we will be dealing with hundreds of thousands of one-way attack systems this year and into the millions in years to come at a pace that this department’s never ever seen before,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the Pentagon must make it easier for new companies to compete in a defense market long dominated by established contractors and costly platforms. Traditional defense firms remain important, he said, but the department also needs lower-cost systems that can be manufactured at scale.
The Army’s Drone Dominance program offers a concrete measure of that ambition. In a December 2025 announcement, the Army said a $1 billion initiative would fund approximately 340,000 small unmanned aircraft systems for combat units over two years. The service said it expected to deliver tens of thousands of drones in 2026 and hundreds of thousands by 2027.
Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle said the service is broadening access to its programs for companies outside the traditional defense industrial base, making room for new entrants while continuing to work with established suppliers. Telle described plans to coordinate the Army’s autonomous-systems efforts, incorporating drones, autonomous ground systems, autonomous fires and autonomous lift into future combat operations. He also mentioned an Army MOS, 390A, for warrant officers to maintain robotics skills and teach soldiers.
Expanding access to Army test ranges is another part of the effort, Telle said, giving developers more opportunities to test systems and receive feedback from military users. He also described efforts to share lessons across the force.
Hegseth said the department must remove bureaucratic barriers that slow adoption of new technology, telling the panel, “I want you to tell me which rules can be signed away.” He urged officials to identify rules and directives that could be changed without new legislation.
Hegseth characterized the funding as a one-time investment rather than a recurring annual allocation, intended to accelerate the development and production of autonomous and robotic systems.
Sources: Defense News · Army Times