WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pentagon has requested more than $54 billion in its fiscal 2027 budget to fund the newly created Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, an allocation Pentagon officials described as the largest investment in drone warfare and counter-drone technology in U.S. history. The request represents a roughly 24,000% increase over the program's prior-year funding and is part of a $1.5 trillion overall military budget proposal.

The Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, established in late 2025, received about $226 million in the fiscal 2026 budget. The group has absorbed a Biden-era initiative aimed at acquiring low-cost drones for future combat in the Pacific, and U.S. officials have described its aim as working with the private sector to test and integrate autonomous drone systems into the military.

According to the budget overview, the fiscal 2027 funding would go toward autonomous and remotely operated systems across air, land, and above and below the sea, including the Drone Dominance program. Of the total, $53.6 billion is designated to boost drone production and procurement, train operators, build a logistics network for drone deployments, and expand counter-drone systems at U.S. military sites. An additional $20.6 billion would purchase one-way attack drones and aircraft developed through the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, as well as the Boeing MQ-25 drone for midair refueling. The drone-related spending rivals the entire budget of the U.S. Marine Corps and exceeds half of the United Kingdom's total defense budget.

"I think of the DAWG as a pathfinder—they're out there finding the best technology for us and working on integration," said Jules Hurst, a senior Pentagon official performing the duties of Under Secretary of Defense. "They're with these companies, live right now, testing different systems and orchestration tools for autonomy, and they're giving them live feedback."

U.S. drone-tech companies positioned to receive contracts include Anduril, Neros, Skydio, and Powerus. The funding request coincides with sweeping bans on Chinese-made drones and components enacted in December as part of a U.S. effort to sever parts of its defense-tech ecosystem from China. The Pentagon has also been in a months-long dispute with the AI company Anthropic after Anthropic attempted to prohibit Pentagon use of its model for mass surveillance or fully autonomous lethal weapons. In its fiscal 2027 budget overview, the Pentagon reiterated its commitment to obtaining the latest models from top American frontier AI labs for use across the Department of Defense.

Former CIA director David Petraeus, writing in an opinion piece, said the request was "the largest single commitment to autonomous warfare in history." Petraeus also wrote that the U.S. does not have a military doctrine for deploying autonomous formations such as drone swarms, and suggested military leaders would need substantial training to manage and direct such systems.

Jeffrey Ladish, director of Palisade Research and a former security researcher at Anthropic, raised concerns about the proliferation of AI-enabled weapons. "I think every AI company should be pretty worried about the future of AI weapons," Ladish said. He added that "Autonomous systems could change the dynamics of military confrontation by making events such as coups easier to achieve and more common."