Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday the creation of Autonomous Warfare Command, a new 4-star-led organization to rapidly increase drone capabilities in the military.
Mr. Hegseth said in his annual “State of the Force” speech to enlisted personnel and junior officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico that AutoWarCom will oversee the rollout of drones and other robotic capabilities in “the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.”
The pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it. Drone warfare enhanced by artificial intelligence is the most important battlefield revolution in a generation, Mr. Hegseth said.
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“You already know that. Yet when I was sworn in at the Department of Defense, there was scant urgency in this domain,” he said. “That changed as soon as he took the helm.”
In his speech, Mr. Hegseth also confirmed that the Pentagon has fired 10% of serving generals and admirals, and also reduced the overall number of positions by an additional 10%.
Earlier this month, he also issued an order to reduce the number of generals and admirals further — to a 20% cut — and demanded that the cuts be achieved by year’s end.
“Now the media calls that a purge. I call it accountability, and long overdue,” Mr. Hegseth said Wednesday.
The U.S. military has about 850 active-duty generals and admirals. It had just over 2,000 at the end of World War II, though they were overseeing a force nearly 10 times the size of what exists today.
It was the second year that Mr. Hegseth has made a broad-themed speech to a large number of troops at the base, although last year’s address was to senior military officials.
Mr. Hegseth made a number of announcements in the speech, including the creation of Project Meridian to study and propose military applications well into the future.
“We should have the humility to recognize that the best forecasters of future conflict do not solely reside inside the Pentagon,” he said. “There are obvious biases and risks in asking ourselves to both ask the questions and answer them.”
To lead Project Meridian, he tapped Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
“We are leveraging a unique source of American advantage — one our adversaries do not have: our innovators, our senior leaders, and our technologists,” Mr. Hegseth said, describing them as “big thinkers and doers who will forecast the creative solutions for tomorrow’s conflicts.”
Fortress America, another program announced Wednesday, will harden U.S. bases against cyber intrusion, drones, and sabotage.
Military installations will also be able to supply their own electricity, even if the local civilian power grid is taken down, Mr. Hegseth said.
“We’re bringing our critical supply chains home: the rare earth minerals, the specialty metals, the semiconductors, [and] the propellants — mined in America, refined in America, and built in America by American workers,” he said.
Mr. Hegseth also announced a nationwide competition among state governors to select the site for the first U.S. military base built in 40 years.
“This project is about doing something bold, beautiful, and world-class for the great Americans who wear our nation’s uniform,” he said. “If your state wants the honor of hosting 15,000 to 25,000 of America’s great troops, show us why and how you’re going to do it, cutting through the red tape, offering up the land, and rolling out the red carpet for our military families.”
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