The U.S. military is asking Congress for the largest autonomous-warfare budget in American history. According to The Guardian, the Pentagon's fiscal year 2027 request includes $54 billion earmarked for a pivot toward AI-powered war — a figure that encompasses a sweeping autonomous drone warfare program. Experts cited by The Guardian warn the military is unprepared for the risks that come with it.
The Air Force is leading the charge. Its FY27 budget request totals $267 billion — the largest single-year budget the service has ever sought — and funnels major new money into hypersonic missiles, autonomous drones, and AI-assisted targeting systems, according to reporting aggregated by MSN.
Defense One reports the Pentagon plans to spend roughly $50 billion on drone warfare specifically, as new drone startups proliferate and military leaders race to establish what they call "drone dominance." But the same outlet flags a stubborn paradox: uncrewed weapons still require a lot of people to operate. New DARPA projects are explicitly aimed at overcoming that bottleneck by developing smarter, self-organizing drone systems that need far less human supervision.
The surge reflects lessons drawn from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, where cheap, autonomous drones have reshaped battlefield tactics faster than large militaries anticipated. Both the Air Force request and the broader Pentagon ask are still subject to congressional approval.
If these budgets pass, they would mark a decisive, generational shift in how the United States plans to fight its next war — and raise urgent questions about accountability when AI systems make lethal decisions.