By Defense Tech Insights Analysis Desk
The Army is creating a command and a dedicated acquisition office focused on autonomous systems, according to a memo signed by Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle and described by Breaking Defense. The new command will be called the Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, or FASCOM.
The memo directs the Army to establish FASCOM as part of a broader effort to prioritize autonomy in formations, acquisitions and training. It also designates a new Program Acquisition Executive for Autonomy. The new executive will lead acquisition priorities for autonomous capabilities, while the memo separately orders force-development work and changes to specialist authorizations.
The Army’s existing autonomy efforts are currently under the Capability Portfolio Executive Mission Autonomy, which falls under the Program Acquisition Executive for Layered Protection and Integration, according to Breaking Defense. The memo designates a separate acquisition executive for autonomy but does not describe a transfer of all existing responsibilities from the current portfolio.
The force-development portion of the memo calls for new “autonomous force development[s]” to create force structure aligned with autonomous capabilities. The work will cover aviation, armored and sustainment formations, and training formations. The memo identifies force structure and autonomous capabilities as areas for alignment, while leaving the detailed design of those formations to the directed work.
The memo also gives the new Program Acquisition Executive a fiscal 2028 deadline for prioritizing the acquisition and fielding of several autonomous capabilities. The list includes autonomous fires, combat vehicles, watercraft resupply, and collaborative teaming between manned and unmanned platforms. The directive makes acquisition and fielding priorities part of the new office’s responsibilities, alongside the broader force-development work ordered by the Army.
The memo further directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs to expand authorizations for two specialist units to all applicable Army units. One is the 15X tactical unmanned aircraft systems specialist unit. The other is the 390A robotics technician specialist unit. The directive identifies the units and calls for expanded authorizations across applicable formations.
Together, the measures establish three immediate lines of action in the Army’s autonomy effort: creating FASCOM, designating a Program Acquisition Executive for Autonomy, and directing force-development and personnel-authorization changes. The memo also sets acquisition and fielding priorities for autonomous fires, vehicles, resupply craft and manned-unmanned teaming by no later than fiscal 2028.
The command’s name and the acquisition position mark an organizational change, but the memo’s directives are distinct. FASCOM is the Army command ordered by Telle’s memo. The Program Acquisition Executive is the official designated to prioritize acquisition and fielding. The force-development language directs the Army to develop force structure aligned with autonomous capabilities, and the personnel section expands authorizations for the 15X and 390A specialist units.
The measures apply to the Army’s own organization, acquisition priorities and force-development planning. They do not establish the separate proposed Autonomous Warfare Command, or AUTOWARCOM, described by The War Zone. The Army memo instead focuses on the service’s command structure, acquisition management, force-development activity and specialist authorizations.
The memo’s fiscal 2028 direction gives the acquisition office a defined near-term priority list, while the force-development provisions extend the effort to formations and force structure. The Army’s autonomy initiative therefore combines a new command, a designated acquisition executive, planned autonomous force development, specific capability priorities and expanded authorizations for the two specialist units.