GeoSecurity Forum Analysis Desk
The Army is converting its Futures and Concepts Command into the Futures and Autonomy Command, creating the service’s component organization for the Defense Department’s planned Autonomous Warfare Command. Officials released additional details about the component organization at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Defense One reported the announcement.
The renamed command, known as FASCOM, will serve as the Army’s component organization within the planned Autonomous Warfare Command, or AUTOWARCOM. Its commander will also become the Army’s first Portfolio Acquisition Executive for autonomy. That official will have authority over the Army’s full procurement effort for autonomous systems.
FASCOM is expected to operate in a manner similar to Army Cyber Command and Army Special Operations Command. Those organizations support their respective joint combatant commands while retaining Army missions and force structures. The new autonomy command is intended to give the Army a designated organization within the Defense Department’s planned effort.
The reorganization is paired with a broader plan to incorporate autonomous and unmanned systems throughout the force. Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the acting Army chief of staff, said the service intends to place those capabilities at every echelon rather than limit them to a specialized unit. The effort includes changes to force structure and the introduction of military specialties focused on unmanned aerial systems and robotics.
LaNeve said the specialties would help integrate the technologies at the point of need. The force-structure changes are part of the Army’s effort to match its organization with the use of autonomous and unmanned systems across the formation.
Alex Miller, the Army’s chief technology officer, said the larger autonomy project is not intended to begin fully automating existing warfighting functions. He said autonomous systems would compile information and help commanders make decisions, while appropriate levels of human judgment would remain in place before weapons are fired.
Miller cited counter-battery fire and air and missile defense as examples of missions that can occur at a speed and scale that people cannot manage alone. He said the Army wants humans to remain involved in decisions while using autonomous systems to handle activity involving large numbers of drones or rounds. The approach would allow personnel to supervise systems operating at a scale beyond direct human management.
The change preserves at least one visible element of the existing organization. Lt. Gen. Mac McCurry, commander of the Futures and Concepts Command, said the organization would keep its uniform patch as it becomes FASCOM.
The Army’s announcement placed the command transition within the Defense Department’s planned AUTOWARCOM structure while giving the Army’s autonomy portfolio a designated acquisition authority. Further details about AUTOWARCOM were scheduled for discussion by the service secretaries and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a panel on the final morning of the AUSA annual meeting.