The Army is putting a three-star general in charge of turning autonomy from scattered experiments into corps-level units, and the companies that build ground robots, unmanned aircraft and autonomous watercraft now have a single command to watch. Acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve announced Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference that he had redesignated Futures and Concepts Command (FCC) as the new Futures and Autonomous Systems Command (FASCOM), DefenseScoop reported. Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle established FASCOM on Oct. 1, and the service said the command will start by building autonomous systems at the corps level.
The Army has not said who will lead FASCOM. Lt. Gen. Michael McCurry is the current commanding general of FCC, according to Defense Daily.
“This goes beyond drones,” LaNeve said. “FASCOM will pioneer operational concepts that harness autonomous capabilities across all warfighting functions.”
Why the Army Is Rebuilding a Command Activated in February
FCC is not an old organization. Defense Daily reported that the redesignation comes less than a year after FCC was officially activated in February. FCC functions as a major subordinate command, alongside Army Recruiting Command and Combined Arms Command, under Transformation and Training Command, which the Army created by merging Army Futures Command with Training and Doctrine Command.
Rather than stand up a new headquarters from scratch, the Army is renaming FCC and widening its remit. The service said FASCOM will “integrate and ultimately accelerate” the work of FCC's subordinate commands, including Combat Capabilities Development Command, Medical Research and Development Command and the Joint Modernization Command, according to DefenseScoop. Defense Daily's account of the Army's statement lists two more organizations whose work FASCOM will consolidate: the 75th Innovation Command and the Transformation Decision Analysis Center.
The timing tracks a broader Pentagon push. Telle's Oct. 1 move came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans in late September for a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command (AutoWarCom). DefenseScoop described FASCOM as a unit the service wants to build out in the wake of that announcement.
LaNeve framed the change as a force-structure decision, not a technology demonstration. “We are incorporating autonomous and unmanned systems at every single echelon across the formation with the force structure to match, including introducing UAS and robotics military specialties to integrate these technologies at the point of need,” he said in his AUSA remarks, as quoted by Defense Daily.
Which Corps Get Which Autonomous Units First?
The Army's first assignment for FASCOM is corps-level autonomy. According to Defense Daily, the service said its five corps will “test equipment, evaluate tactics and make recommendations on accomplishing autonomous mission sets.” The initial projects, as the Army listed them:
- An autonomous fires battery and an autonomous watercraft company in I Corps
- An autonomous armored reconnaissance company in III Corps
- An autonomous breaching company in V Corps
- Autonomous aerial ISR and lift companies in XVIII Airborne Corps
- Pairing of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft in 8th Army
The manned-unmanned aviation effort originated at the Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama. The Army said it is meant to give “attack aviation pilots direct control of UAS sensors to enable over-the-horizon targeting and synchronize manned-unmanned fires,” Defense Daily reported. LaNeve also designated Fort Rucker as the Army's “UAS Autonomy Center of Excellence.”
Beyond the corps projects, LaNeve directed FASCOM to create “capability-based formations” built around long-range fires, protection, tanks, logistics and obstacle breaching. The Army said those areas were chosen for their role in enabling operational maneuver and align with the convergence, strike, close battle and endurance elements in operational warfighting guidance the service released the previous week.
People are part of the plan too. DefenseScoop reported that some of the Army's new Robotics Technician Integrators, whose first class graduated earlier this month, will go to FASCOM-supported experimental units to help spread autonomous systems across the force.
How FASCOM Connects to the Autonomy Acquisition Executive
Telle's memo did more than create a command. Defense Daily reported that it also called for a new acquisition executive for autonomy focused on fielding capabilities by fiscal year 2028. The Army tied the two moves together directly.
“This change unifies expertise that the new Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Autonomy will depend on to meet Acting Secretary Telle’s directive to rapidly integrate autonomous technologies across the Army,” the service said in a statement quoted by Defense Daily.
That pairing matters for how requirements will move. FASCOM will consolidate the work of Combat Capabilities Development Command and the Joint Modernization Command, among others, and the corps projects are where concepts are to be tested. The acquisition executive is aimed at rapidly fielding autonomy capabilities by fiscal 2028, which suggests it would be the buyer for what proves out, though the sources do not spell out that handoff. The Army said its approach “leverages experimentation to validate concepts that can then be scaled across the Army.”
What It Means for Contractors
Vendors of unmanned ground vehicles, small UAS, autonomous watercraft, robotic breaching gear and autonomy software should expect that the five named corps experiments are the clearest early signals of Army interest, since the sources describe them rather than a single large program. Each corps project maps to a specific formation: fires battery, watercraft company, armored reconnaissance company, breaching company, aerial ISR and lift companies. That gives companies a concrete way to target pitches and demonstrations.
Fort Rucker's new role as the UAS Autonomy Center of Excellence suggests it will be a venue for aviation-related autonomy work. LaNeve said in a statement that Fort Rucker can “bring together warfighting experts and cutting-edge commercial capabilities to test technology the way we intend to fight it.” Firms with manned-unmanned teaming, sensor-sharing or over-the-horizon targeting products should track activity there.
The fiscal 2028 fielding target for the autonomy acquisition executive sets a near-term window. Companies already working with Combat Capabilities Development Command, the Joint Modernization Command or the 75th Innovation Command should confirm how those relationships carry over now that the work is folding under FASCOM. Two open questions remain: who the three-star commander will be, and how FASCOM's corps-level effort will divide work with the Pentagon's planned four-star AutoWarCom.
