U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced plans to establish an Autonomous Warfare Command, abbreviated AUTOWARCOM, as a four-star combatant command intended to lead joint-force activity in unmanned and autonomous warfare. The plan could affect how the U.S. military organizes, buys and employs autonomous systems, but it has not resolved which aircraft would come under the command or how its authority would interact with the services’ existing programs.
For the U.S. Air Force, the central aviation question is the future of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. The aircraft are…