The US is moving to put autonomous warfare, industrial resilience and faster acquisition on a more permanent footing.

Six initiatives announced by Secretary Pete Hegseth include plans for a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command, greater protection of critical supply chains and military infrastructure, and a new effort to bring private-sector expertise into future force planning.

In this edition, Visiongain examines where these measures could reshape procurement, industrial capacity and the fielding of autonomous systems.

Visiongain Top Takeaways

• Autonomous warfare is moving beyond individual drone programmes: The proposed Autonomous Warfare Command would coordinate unmanned and autonomous capabilities across the Joint Force.
• Supply-chain security is becoming part of military readiness: FORTRESS America brings critical minerals, semiconductors, propellants, munitions, energy resilience and base protection into one framework.
• Project Meridian brings private-sector expertise into future force planning: The 120-day study will identify future warfighting domains, capability gaps and possible solutions.
• Domestic industrial capacity remains a core priority: The initiatives continue efforts to reduce foreign dependencies and strengthen US production, reserves and infrastructure.

From Policy to Procurement

Following Hegseth’s State of the Force address at Quantico, the Department outlined six initiatives spanning autonomous warfare, industrial resilience, military infrastructure and future force development.

The Department described the package as:

“Autonomous Warfare Command, creates a new Corps of Cadets, launches the ‘FORTRESS’ (Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability) readiness program, initiates the Next Great American Base project, stands up the Office of Religious Affairs, and kicks off Project Meridian, signaling a bold new era of warfighter-first leadership.”

The most commercially relevant are Autonomous Warfare Command, FORTRESS America, Project Meridian and the Next Great American Base.

Autonomous Warfare Command

The proposed Autonomous Warfare Command would take the US beyond individual drone programmes towards a dedicated structure for autonomous and robotic warfare across the Joint Force. If established, it would be the first new US combatant command since Space Command in 2019.

The Department says the new four-star functional combatant command is intended to “scale autonomous warfare across the Joint Force” by 1 October 2027. It would build on Drone Dominance, with Project Agincourt serving as an interim step towards the new command.

The concept also reflects lessons from recent combat. Ukraine has shown not simply the importance of drones, but how quickly unmanned systems, countermeasures and tactics can change. Hegseth has argued that the US needs a structure able to adapt at a similar pace, bringing procurement and operations closer together.

AUTOWARCOM therefore represents an organisational shift as much as a technological one. Operating autonomous systems at scale will require sensors, communications, command and control, electronic warfare, counter-UAS capabilities, autonomy software and the infrastructure to support them.

Project Agincourt is intended to bring operators and technology developers closer together, with decisions and funding pushed nearer frontline units. Establishing AUTOWARCOM with the proposed command and acquisition authorities will require congressional involvement, although the Senate version of the FY2027 defence authorisation bill already calls for a Robotic and Autonomous Systems Combatant Command.

FORTRESS America

FORTRESS America (Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability) brings supply-chain security, energy resilience and base protection into a single readiness agenda.

The Department says the programme is intended to reduce dependence on foreign sources of rare earths, semiconductors, weapons components and other critical inputs, while giving major US military installations greater ability to operate independently of the civilian power grid.

The policy is broader than energy security. It also covers domestic production of specialty metals and propellants, strategic reserves of munitions and fuel, and protection against cyberattack, sabotage and drones.

Much of this work is already under way. The Army’s Project Janus has awarded agreements worth up to $2.2bn to develop nuclear microreactors for US installations, while the Pentagon has also increased direct investment in critical-mineral production and processing.

FORTRESS therefore looks less like a new standalone programme than an attempt to bring existing industrial and infrastructure priorities under a broader readiness framework.

The ambition reaches from raw materials and processing through manufacturing, stockpiles and operational support, creating potential demand across energy, munitions, critical materials, cyber security and base defence.

Project Meridian

Project Meridian is a 120-day study of how warfare could change and which capabilities the US will need to develop in response.

The Department says it will draw on private-sector technologists, business leaders and national security experts to map future warfighting domains, identify capability gaps and propose solutions. The effort brings together Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich as high-profile private-sector participants, alongside the Department’s technology leadership.

Its findings are due on 28 January 2027 in an unclassified report accompanied by a classified annex. The public element could give industry an early indication of how the Pentagon is thinking about future capability priorities.

The significance lies in who is being brought into the process. Commercial companies are advancing quickly in areas such as autonomy, artificial intelligence, space and communications, often outside traditional defence acquisition cycles.

Meridian gives those voices a more direct role in shaping future capability priorities. It does not create funded programmes on its own.

Whether it influences requirements, budgets and procurement will determine how much weight the study ultimately carries.

Next Great American Base

The Next Great American Base proposal would create a major new US military installation capable of housing 15,000 to 25,000 personnel, with states invited to compete to host it.

If it proceeds at that scale, the project could drive substantial demand across construction, power, communications, logistics, security and base infrastructure.

The commercial impact will depend on site selection, funding and the eventual scope of the installation.

Market Outlook

The commercial impact will depend on which of these initiatives move into funded programmes.

Autonomous warfare points to demand beyond unmanned platforms, particularly across command and control, sensors, communications, electronic warfare, counter-UAS systems and autonomy software.

FORTRESS America opens a different set of requirements across critical materials, munitions, power resilience and hardened military infrastructure.

That creates room for specialist suppliers as well as the major primes, particularly in components, software, materials, energy and infrastructure.

Announcements set priorities; contracts, budgets and production orders create markets.

Visiongain Insight

The competitive advantage may shift from having the best standalone technology to being able to deliver capability reliably, at scale and at speed.

That favours suppliers with secure inputs, resilient production and systems that can be integrated quickly into operational use.

If that becomes the procurement norm, industrial resilience will matter almost as much as technical performance.

From Visiongain

Visiongain’s market reports provide detailed forecasting and analysis to assess how changes in military requirements, procurement and technology will translate into long-term demand, investment priorities and competitive positioning.

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