Nearly $20 million would go to air vehicle development and about $15 million to mission systems development and integration. The rest of the funding would be allotted for systems engineering, control segment development and integration, and development support.

Officials noted that the spending plan for 2026 increased since the last budget submission.

The project, known as MUX TACAIR increment 1, will leverage previous work that the Corps has done for its Penetrating Affordable Autonomous Collaborative Killer-Portfolio (PAACK-P), which received funding in previous years under the Pentagon’s Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve initiative.

“We are experimenting with unmanned aircraft like the XQ-58 Valkyrie working alongside crewed platforms such as the F-35. Recent tests validated their ability to conduct electronic warfare, execute autonomous tasks, and support Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) missions — all of which improve the survivability and effectiveness of manned Marine aviation in high-threat environments,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith told members of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee in written testimony last month, adding that investments in collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs) and other technologies will reduce risk to personnel and increase the speed and accuracy of decision making.

The Marines want highly autonomous next-generation drones to serve as robotic wingmen that could take on high-tech foes such as China in places like the Indo-Pacific.

MUX TACAIR, or Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) unmanned aerial system expeditionary tactical aircraft, would be expected to support “mass buildup of a Joint Force against a peer/near-peer adversary,” according to budget documents, which noted that they could play a significant role in electronic warfare and reconnaissance missions.

“Project efforts focus on operations from austere Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations (EABO) airfields in support of Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) and/or Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) operations serving as the Stand in Force (SiF) for a Joint Force, providing lethal and flexible support to support from the land and sea. This project increases MAGTF lethality, capacity and interoperability in the reconnaissance and electronic warfare mission areas, complementing existing and future TACAIR capabilities and enhancing combat reach into the INDOPACOM Area of Responsibility (AoR), or wherever enhanced, stand-off lethality is needed by the Joint Force,” officials wrote in budget justification documents to support the fiscal 2026 funding request for research, development, test and evaluation.

The Marines plan to award up to three other transaction authority agreements to contractors before the start of the next fiscal year to support the program.

Prototyping and experimentation efforts slated for 2026 include expeditionary air vehicle components and subsystems focused on launch and recovery, conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) capability, electronic warfare subsystem and payload enhancements, interoperability via communications and datalinks, mission systems computing, command and control (C2) integration architecture interoperability, and open architecture applications, according to officials.

Demonstration of prototyping activities, including mission system integration and minimum viable product (MVP) flight tests teamed with crewed aircraft, “will maximize collaborative evaluation environments, which enable developmental and operational evaluation of prototypes and tactics development” by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Four (UX-24) and Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1)) during fleet exercises as well as weapons and tactics instructor courses hosted by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1), according to budget documents.

Officials noted that the Corps plans to use a “spiral approach” to capability insertion for the program.

“MUX TACAIR Increment I will rapidly accelerate the time between development and fielding, ensuring rapid and relevant capability delivery of a Minimum Viable Product … to the warfighter,” per the budget documents. “Each spiral will have an associated MVP that is operationally relevant and balances schedule and technical complexity. The requirements within each MVP spiral will detail a minimum set of threshold capabilities required for training and tactics development with a unit of employment (e.g., fleet squadron).”

Development spirals will include enhancements in areas such as command and control, electronic warfare, mission computers and datalinks, according to officials.

Efforts in fiscal 2026 are expected to support an acquisition decision memorandum for Middle Tier of Acquisition rapid prototyping entry.

The Marines aren’t the only U.S. military service pursuing CCAs. The Air Force plans to spend $807 million in fiscal 2026 on its program.

Budget documents noted that the Marines will be “maximizing alignment” with Air Force and Department of the Navy CCA efforts “to reduce duplication and enhance interoperability through the use of compatible C2 implementations, mission systems, and common control architecture.”

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The Marine Corps — which is part of the Department of the Navy — has a requirement for “multi-purpose” UGVs, Lt. Col. Scott Humr, deputy director for intelligent robotics and autonomous systems (IRAS) at the Capabilities Development Directorate, noted during a presentation at the Modern Day Marine conference last month.

“I think those are going to be very critical for logistics, for sensing, for communications, ISR, etc.,” he said, using an acronym that stands for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The request for quotes released Wednesday appears to be geared toward laying the groundwork for that type of capability.

“The Government is seeking to acquire services for the development of an open-source
architecture for Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) systems equipped with advanced
sensor fusion and control algorithms to allow for modularity with different sensors and
payloads,” officials wrote.

Contract items for the solicitation include those types of algorithms as well as their integration onto small and medium-sized surrogate UGVs for testing.

The Defense Department intends to award a firm fixed price contract, with an anticipated period of performance from date of award to Dec. 31, 2027. The estimated award date is June 1, according to the solicitation.

“We are pursuing a requirement for a multi-purpose unmanned ground vehicle to provide capability across the [Marine Air-Ground Task Force],” Humr told members of industry at the Modern Day Marine conference. “We see this as important piece of how we envision robots working with robots. We have many pieces of the puzzle, as it were, but we need other enablers within that system to eliminate the Marine from doing the drudgery work and putting them where we need them the most. And so most of all, really, what we want is technologies to free Marines to fight.”

In today’s defense tech ecosystem, software is even more critical than hardware, he noted.

“Modern platforms, whether UGVs, [unmanned surface vessels], aircraft, or autonomous systems in general, are increasingly software-driven with upgrades, mission configurations and even survivability enhancements … coming from lines of code. They aren’t coming from physically redesigning the systems. So in an era where threats evolve daily, it’s the agility and intelligence of our software that turns the steel and silicone into decisive, lethal assets. So what do we need from industry? We need open standards, modular design, cybersecurity baked in from the beginning, from design and rapid prototyping, so we can get capabilities in the hands of Marines faster,” Humr said.

Systems need to be built from the get-go to collect, process and share data, he suggested.

Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific is involved in the architecture effort that the new solicitation is for, according to the request for quotes.

Unmanned platforms are seen by military officials as tools that can perform a variety of missions and help keep troops out of harm’s way as much as possible.

“The idea that Marines must be the first to make contact with the enemy is increasingly becoming outdated and precarious. However, as Marines, we will always pride ourselves on taking risks and be ready to put ourselves in danger when the time calls, but now we can do it through the sequencing of first using robots … in our echelon of forces,” Humr said.

For the multi-purpose UGV, the Corps needs a platform that “can do a lot of things” but “not to try to do everything really well,” he noted.

“We know that [when] we get into the point of trying to make one system that does everything well, we end up with some Frankenstein that does nothing well. And so I think a very basic system is kind of where we want to start. They already exist,” he said.

Humr suggested the Corps was still contemplating its acquisition strategy for the multi-purpose UGV platforms.

“We don’t know exactly what strategy we will approach, but I think we want to approach it with the most maximum amount of flexibility. We know that we can’t buy [or] order 1,000 of these machines and think that they’re going to be the solution. I see us buying … in small increments, testing, getting feedback and improving those on version 1.2, 2.0., etc.,” he said.

“We need to develop the requirement a little bit more and ensure that we get it out there quickly, and make sure we have the funding to support that as well,” Humr said. “I think we’ll get there. I think there’s a lot of energy and a lot of interest in it now. We’ve seen some of the autonomy that’s on some of these systems now.”

He noted that organizations working with Defense Department tech hubs like DARPA, have been demonstrating AI technologies that could be integrated onto vehicles.

“They’re taking that autonomy and putting it on their systems, multiple different systems, in fact. And so, I see that’s where we’re going to be able to make the most money and real quickly buy what’s already there, and taking the best of breed from what industry [and] our labs are doing,” Humr said.

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In that position, Michael will serve as the primary advisor to the secretary of defense and other Defense Department leaders on tech development and transition, prototyping, experimentation, and management of testing ranges and activities. He’ll also be in charge of synchronizing science and technology efforts across the DOD.

Michael comes to the job from the private sector, where he’s been a business executive, advisor and investor. He told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he’s been involved with more than 50 different tech companies during his career. Perhaps most notable, from 2013 to 2017, he was chief business officer at Uber.

In government, he previously served as special assistant to the secretary of defense when Robert Gates was Pentagon chief.

Michael was born in Egypt and his family moved to the United States when he was a child to escape what he described as hostility to Christians.

“Emil has lived the American Dream by building several successful Tech companies, including Uber,” then President-elect Donald Trump said in a statement in December when he announced his pick for Pentagon R&E chief, adding that Michael will “ensure that our Military has the most technologically sophisticated weapons in the World, while saving A LOT of money for our Taxpayers.”

Michael touted his business background during his confirmation hearing in March and in responses to written questions from senators. He noted that he previously served on the Defense Business Board, which provides independent advice to Pentagon leaders on business management issues.

“I am a firm believer that bringing best practices from the private sector into the Department is a top priority because, if adopted effectively, they will streamline operation and allocate resources more appropriately,” Michael told lawmakers.

He suggested that some research and development programs could end up on the chopping block under his watch, saying Pentagon officials need to have the discipline to “stop projects that are failing” and focus S&T investments on “only those things that are aligned on our ‘peace through strength’ mission.”

“Time must be a factor in all of our decisions as we confront an increasingly sophisticated adversary in China, which not only has lower labor costs, but is notorious for intellectual property theft, making its research and development … even faster and less expensive than we could have imagined only a decade ago,” he said.

Michael also told senators that he would work to “recast” the relationship between the Defense Department and the emerging tech sector.

“The DOD needs to foster a more robust and competitive defense industrial base by providing more realistic requirements, inviting smaller and innovative companies with less burdensome processes, becoming more agile in how and when we grant contracts. The private sector too should bear some more responsibility for the risks of their own failure. A healthy ecosystem will provide for weapons that are better, cheaper and faster,” he said at his confirmation hearing.

He suggested venture capitalists could play an even larger role in supporting the defense industrial base, particularly for small businesses that need additional funding to thrive in that marketplace. For example, he told lawmakers that, if confirmed, he would look for opportunities under Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs for small businesses to leverage VC investment.

The Pentagon’s R&E chief plays a key role in fostering next-generation military capabilities and overseeing work on the “critical technology areas” that the Pentagon has identified. Those areas currently include trusted AI and autonomy; space; integrated sensing and cyber; integrated network systems of systems; microelectronics; human-machine interfaces; advanced materials; directed energy; advanced computing and software; hypersonics; biotech; quantum; FutureG wireless tech; and “energy resilience.”

“If confirmed, I look forward to reviewing the work being done in all 14 Critical Technology Areas and ensuring the Department’s resources are focused on our most critical challenges with the right amount of weight behind each area,” Michael told lawmakers.

He highlighted AI, autonomous systems, quantum computing, directed energy and hypersonics as some of his top priorities, if confirmed.

The R&E directorate is also expected to play a major role in Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative.

Michael noted that Golden Dome will require systems engineers across the DOD to collaborate on architecture and software, in partnership with the development and acquisition communities.

After he’s sworn in, Michael will take over for James Mazol, who has been performing the duties of undersecretary for R&E during the early months of the second Trump administration. Heidi Shyu was the last person to hold the role in a Senate-confirmed capacity during the Biden administration.

Updated on May 15, 2025, at 4:15 PM: A previous version of this story stated that “renewable energy generation and storage” was one of DOD’s 14 “critical technology areas.” While that was the case during the Biden administration, the Trump administration has changed the focus to “energy resilience.” This story has been updated to reflect that change.

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The proposed funding is part of a broader $150 billion reconciliation bill unveiled Sunday that’s intended to boost spending on U.S. military capabilities and border security.

“This legislation represents a generational upgrade for our nation’s defense capabilities, including historic investments in new technology,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said in a statement. “This is about building the future of American defense, achieving peace through strength, and ultimately deterring war.”

If the bill is passed, sizable investments would go toward kamikaze drones — also known as one-way attack drones or loitering munitions — that are designed to destroy their targets by crashing into them. U.S. Army and Marine Corps leaders are gung-ho about acquiring these types of capabilities after watching their heavy use in Ukraine and other conflicts.

The legislation would pump $1 billion into expanding the kamikaze drone industrial base, provide $50 million to accelerate delivery of one-way attack unmanned aerial systems with “advanced autonomy,” and allocate $145 million for the development of AI capabilities to enable one-way attack UAS and naval systems.

An additional $500 million would be allotted to “prevent delays” in the delivery of “attritable autonomous military capabilities.” The bill did not identify specific systems that lawmakers are concerned about facing potential delays.

The legislation also includes $1.1 billion in funding to expand the small UAS industrial base.

More money would go toward uncrewed maritime platforms, including about $1.8 billion for expansion of medium unmanned surface vessel production; $1.5 billion for expansion of small USV production; $1.3 billion for expansion of unmanned underwater vehicle production; $250 million for the development, production and integration of wave-powered UUVs; and $188 million for the development and testing of “maritime robotic autonomous systems and enabling technologies.”

Another $174 million would be invested in the development of a Test Resource Management Center robotic autonomous systems “proving ground.”

Pentagon officials are also keen on acquiring new capabilities to defeat adversaries’ drones, and the reconciliation bill includes funding for those types of tools.

The legislation would allocate $250 million for the development, production and integration of land-based counter-UAS programs; $200 million for the development, production and integration of ship-based counter-drone programs; and $350 million for the development, production and integration of non-kinetic counter-UAS programs. The term “non-kinetic” in U.S. military parlance generally refers to weapons that aren’t projectiles or missiles, such as electronic warfare, directed energy, or cyber capabilities.

“This legislation is a historic investment of $150 billion to restore America’s military capabilities and strengthen our national defense,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a statement. “Our military’s resources have declined over the years … Our defense industrial base has weakened. America’s deterrence is failing and without a generational investment in our national defense, we will lose the ability to defeat our adversaries.”

The HASC is slated to hold a markup session for the reconciliation bill Tuesday. The legislation will subsequently be sent to the House Budget Committee.

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DIU issued a solicitation to vendors this week via its commercial solutions opening acquisition pathway for a “combat autonomous maritime platform.” The move comes as the Navy is pursuing Project 33 and other initiatives to beef up its fleet with robotic platforms and prepare for a potential war with China in the Pacific region. Maritime drones are seen as a cost-effective means of boosting the sea service’s capacity and capabilities while reducing risks to sailors by keeping them out of harm’s way.

“To maximize operational effectiveness in contested environments, the United States military requires enhanced capabilities for deploying large payloads across extended ranges. Current UUV capabilities present limitations in range and payload capacity, hindering the effective deployment of critical resources in certain operational scenarios,” officials wrote in the new solicitation. “The DoD seeks commercially available, demonstration-ready uncrewed systems that address these limitations, offering a scalable and cost-effective solution for long-range, high-capacity payload deployment.”

The CAMP program isn’t DIU’s first rodeo when it comes to UUVs. Last year, in partnership with the Navy, the organization awarded contracts to Anduril, Oceaneering International and Kongsberg Discovery to prototype large displacement unmanned underwater vehicles. However, the new CAMP platforms will be much bigger and have additional capabilities, a DIU spokesperson told DefenseScoop.

“These are an order of magnitude larger, much longer range, and carry even larger payloads. This is a different class of vehicle. For example, think of LDUUV as a sprinter van and CAMP as a moving truck,” the spokesperson said in an email. “These will be pier launched vs shipboard launched, based on anticipated size.”

The new solicitation isn’t being issued because the LDUUV prototypes didn’t meet expectations, according to DIU.

“Quite the opposite. We are building from the success from the LDUUV project, and attempting this with even larger and longer range UUVs,” the spokesperson said.

Officials want an autonomous system that can transit more than 1,000 nautical miles, go deeper than 200 meters underwater and release a variety of payloads of various sizes — including payloads that are 21 feet in length and 21 inches in diameter.

They also desire platforms that can communicate “across the air/water interface (acoustic and Radio Frequency)” and operate in GPS-denied environments, among other attributes.

Vendor responses are due May 1. DIU plans to move quickly into phase two — which is expected to start just four weeks after the close of the solicitation and include in-water live demonstrations of companies’ offerings.

Prototype other transaction agreements that are awarded may result in follow-on production contracts or agreements after successful prototype completion, according to DIU.

“The follow-on production contract or agreement will be available for use by one or more organizations within the Department of Defense. As a result, the magnitude of the follow-on production contract or agreement could be significantly larger than that of the Prototype OT agreement,” officials wrote.

Meanwhile, the Navy is pursuing other underwater drones, such as the extra-large UUV named Orca. That platform, built by Boeing, is an 85 ton, 85-feet-long unmanned diesel-electric submarine. Its design was inspired by Boeing’s Echo Voyager, which has a range of up to 6,500 nautical miles and can accommodate a modular payload section up to 34 feet in length, according to a Congressional Research Service report. However, the Orca differs in some respects to meet military requirements and it appears to be significantly larger than the Echo Voyager.

Construction of the Orca XLE-1 is complete, and developmental and operational testing of the system was slated to continue through the third quarter of this fiscal year.

“Orca, and other platforms like her, are an important step forward as we drive towards our future hybrid fleet, which is going be composed of manned and unmanned platforms. It’s a hybrid fleet that we know we will need to maintain our warfighting advantage,” then Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said late last year while touring Boeing’s manufacturing facility, according to a Navy release.

Franchetti was later fired as CNO by President Donald Trump in February along with several other senior military officers. Since then, Adm. James Kilby has been performing the duties of CNO as observers wait for Trump to announce his pick for a new service chief.

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Caine is more of a mystery than some previous nominees for the post who held more high-profile positions prior to being picked for the job. He recently retired from the Air Force as a three-star and he’s never served as a combatant commander, service chief or vice chief, although he held a variety of roles during his long military career.

Trump surprised many in February when he announced Caine as his choice for chairman after firing Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, who had been elevated to that position by President Joe Biden.

The commander-in-chief officially submitted Caine’s nomination to the Senate March 10, and the nominee has been meeting privately with lawmakers in the run-up to Tuesday’s hearing.

Caine’s oral and written testimony will offer the public and members of the national security community more insights into his thinking on a variety of defense issues.

Here are a few of the hot topics that may come up when the nominee goes under the spotlight:

SignalGate

There is bipartisan concern among lawmakers about a recent incident that came to light when it was revealed by the Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg that he was included in a message chain on Signal — an encrypted but unclassified messaging app — where some of the president’s closest advisers discussed forthcoming strikes targeting Houthi militants in Yemen. The group included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, national security adviser Michael Waltz and other officials.

Some have dubbed the controversy “SignalGate”.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Ranking Member Jack Reed, D-R.I., sent a letter last week to the Pentagon’s acting inspector general requesting a probe of the incident and raising questions about the use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information and sharing such info with people who don’t have proper security clearance.

Although Caine wasn’t involved in the controversial Signal chat, he may be asked his opinions on the use of certain information technologies by DOD officials for communications and related security issues.

Current and former defense officials told DefenseScoop last week that SignalGate underscores a need for secured chat options for government and military insiders.

AI and autonomous weapons

Caine will have a forum at the hearing to air his views on the Defense Department’s modernization initiatives, which are wide-ranging and include new weapons platforms as well as software, networking tools and other enablers.

Of particular interest to some will be his perspective on using artificial intelligence and highly autonomous systems for military applications.

Pentagon leaders are keen on developing and deploying AI capabilities for back-office functions and battlefield operations. However, there have been longstanding concerns about the risks involved with allowing military platforms — particularly lethal ones — to have a large degree of autonomy.

The Defense Department defines an autonomous weapon system as “a weapon system that, once activated, can select and engage targets without further intervention by an operator. This includes, but is not limited to, operator-supervised autonomous weapon systems that are designed to allow operators to override operation of the weapon system, but can select and engage targets without further operator input after activation.”

Meanwhile, the military is also exploring generative AI technology, including large language models.

For example, the Defense Information Systems Agency is launching an experimental cloud-based chatbot for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command that will allow users to test the tool on classified networks.

However, there are concerns in the national security community and elsewhere about the potential downsides of genAI, including the risk of “hallucinations” where models produce inaccurate, misleading or biased results that could create problems for the humans who are trying to leverage them.

Caine may offer his views on the best use cases for AI and any guardrails that he feels are important to mitigate risks.

DOGE

The Pentagon, like other federal agencies, is pursuing controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts, which include cuts to programs and the workforce.

Pentagon leadership is aiming to reduce DOD’s civilian workforce by 5-8 percent — or upwards of 50,000 employees — via multiple pathways.

On March 28, Hegseth signed a new memo about “Initiating the Workforce Acceleration and Recapitalization Initiative.” The SecDef is reopening the deferred resignation program and also offering early retirement to eligible civilian workers as he seeks to “maximize participation.”

Hegseth has also instituted a civilian hiring freeze — while allowing for some exemptions — and the department intends to fire certain probationary workers.

The Pentagon chief has said he wants to reinvest the savings from these efforts into high-priority warfighting capabilities.

Caine will likely be asked for his views on DOGE and other personnel issues, which could include how he thinks any savings should be reinvested and which parts of the workforce should be protected from cuts.

Combatant command reorg

The U.S. military has seven geographic combatant command: Indo-Pacific Command, European Command, Central Command, Africa Command, Northern Command, Southern Command and Space Command.

The other CoComs include Cyber Command, Special Operations Command, Strategic Command and Transportation Command.

Multiple media outlets have reported that Pentagon officials are considering consolidating some of the combatant commands, including folding together U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command as well as Southern Command and Northern Command — among other organizational changes — as a cost-cutting measure.

Wicker and others have expressed concerns about such reports. It would be surprising if members of the Senate Armed Services Committee didn’t ask Caine for his views on how such a reorganization of the CoComs and other components would impact readiness and U.S. military capabilities.

America’s role on the world stage

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, one of Caine’s most important tasks would be to provide the president advice on international conflicts and tensions.

At Tuesday’s hearing, he’ll have an opportunity to offer his thoughts on various geopolitical hotspots — from the war in Ukraine to tensions with China in the Pacific.

Caine’s confirmation process is taking place as the Pentagon is trying to prepare for a potential fight with the People’s Liberation Army, a highly advanced adversary. Some U.S. officials are concerned that Chinese forces may try to invade Taiwan sometime in the next few years. In such a scenario, the United States could be draw into a major war in the region.

However, the American military is also being tasked to conduct operations in the Middle East against groups like the Houthis and ISIS. Meanwhile, tensions are running high with Iran after Trump recently threatened to bomb the country if it doesn’t reach a deal regarding its nuclear program.

The Trump administration is also pushing Europeans to take on more of the leadership burden in NATO as Washington seeks to focus more on the Indo-Pacific and the homeland. At the same time, it’s pressuring Ukraine to reach a peace agreement with Russia, but some lawmakers, including Wicker, are wary of Moscow’s intentions.

Meanwhile, Trump has expressed interest in annexing Greenland and asserting American control over the Panama Canal. And closer to home, U.S. troops have been deployed to the border with Mexico to bolster security and the administration has designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Historically, as uniformed military officers, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been expected to be apolitical and nonpartisan. Nevertheless, Caine may face questions from lawmakers trying to gauge his level of support for the MAGA and America First movements.

Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, previewed a potential line of questioning during an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week” in February.

“There are obviously a great many questions that we’re going to raise with him, but I think we have to give him the opportunity to make his case and also to make clear that he is going to be willing to speak truth to power, willing to give his best military advice to the president, not just tell the president what he wants to hear — and also to be open and share with the Congress the facts on the ground, not be a political spokesperson for the president. So those are part of the issues that we’ll address as we go forward,” Reed said.

Barring a disastrous permanence at the hearing, Caine is expected to garner enough votes to get confirmed. Republicans have a majority in the Senate with 53 GOP members. Apart from Hegseth, who narrowly won confirmation in January, Trump’s nominees for top Pentagon posts during his second term have been confirmed by comfortable margins during final voting, including his picks for deputy secretary of defense, secretary of the Army and secretary of the Navy.

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Under the three-year, $86 million deal, the contractor will serve as SOCOM’s “Mission Autonomy Systems Integration Partner,” according to a press release.

So-called “collaborative autonomy” capabilities are on the command’s technology wish list.

The organization’s new strategy document, dubbed “SOF Renaissance,” notes that special ops forces must be early adopters at the Defense Department of innovations in areas such as AI, autonomous systems and cyber to enhance irregular warfare capabilities in complex operating environments.

“AI and uncrewed systems are changing warfare through increased automation and autonomy. This leads to more precise targeting and reduced risk to human personnel. The distinction between optimizing and generative AI is crucial and will be a game changer. Swarms of low-cost drones and remote explosive devices, using AI and autonomy, blur traditional human-machine boundaries on the battlefield. SOF must also use these systems to improve decisionmaking and situational awareness,” officials wrote in the document.

The command wants a variety of uncrewed systems for the air, land and sea domains. Officials are even eyeing robotic platforms that can operate in multiple warfighting domains, such as “multi-domain” micro drones and “Drone in a Box” technologies.

“To achieve the benefits of affordable enterprise capability, operators must be able to task teams of diverse, multi-domain autonomous systems to work together and execute a given mission. This requires mission autonomy software capable of integrating and coordinating multiple vehicles’ control systems, sensors, weapons, and other payloads to synchronize effects on the battlefield,” Anduril stated in a press release announcing the new contract award.

The company is touting its AI-enabled Lattice platform as an enabler of the autonomy software infrastructure that will give commandos the tools to interact and wage war with “teams of diverse autonomous systems” and deliver “coordinated mass effects.”

“As the Mission Autonomy Systems Integration Partner (SIP), Anduril will support USSOCOM in developing their infrastructure, enabling them to integrate, test, validate, and deploy government-owned and commercial mission autonomy software and enabling technology across their robotic platforms,” per the release.

The company plans to “prove out” software in the coming months via a series of demonstrations and integration events ahead of operational fielding.

This isn’t the first time that Anduril has been tapped by the Defense Department to provide these types of capabilities.

Last year, the company was one of three firms selected by the Defense innovation Unit to provide tools to facilitate “the automated coordination of swarms of hundreds or thousands of uncrewed assets across multiple domains in order to improve their lethality and efficiency.”

Anduril is offering its Lattice tech for that effort, which is supporting the Pentagon’s Replicator autonomous systems initiative.

“While these [unmanned] systems are valuable as single agents or swarms of like systems, they are most resilient and effective when they operate in combined teams that can collaborate with other types of systems across domains. Resilient C2 and collaborative autonomy vendors will enhance the effectiveness of these systems by providing user interfaces, collaborative autonomy architectures and software, and network orchestration,” DIU officials wrote in a release when the awards for the Autonomous Collaborative Teaming program were announced last year.

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The announcement was made in a joint statement issued by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi late Thursday night. Modi was in Washington on an official visit.

Via the ASIA initiative, the two nations hope to “scale industry partnerships and production in the Indo-Pacific.”

The leaders highlighted a new partnership between Anduril and Mahindra Group focused on “advanced autonomous technologies to co-develop and co-produce state-of-the-art maritime systems and advanced AI-enabled counter Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to strengthen regional security,” among other bilateral efforts.

DefenseScoop reached out to Anduril and Mahindra Group Friday morning seeking additional information and comment.

“This collaboration between Anduril Industries and Mahindra Group represents a shared commitment to advancing technological innovation and expanding joint opportunities to further capabilities in the Indo-Pacific. Anduril and Mahindra will work together to provide advanced capacity to India, leveraging Anduril’s autonomous systems and advanced AI solutions, and software-defined hardware to enhance operational effectiveness across multiple domains,” Anduruil said in a statement. “The partnership is focused on counter-drone technology and maritime capabilities. We’re not sharing additional information beyond that at this point.”

Anduril has already developed a variety of AI capabilities, autonomous drones and counter-drone systems for the U.S. military, including unmanned aerial systems and unmanned underwater vehicles.

The ASIA initiative falls under the new “U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century” that was announced by Trump and Modi on Thursday.

“The leaders … pledged to elevate military cooperation across all domains – air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace – through enhanced training, exercises, and operations, incorporating the latest technologies,” per the joint statement. They also promised to accelerate defense technology cooperation across space, air defense, missile, maritime and undersea technologies, and enhance logistics and intelligence sharing.

Trump and Modi are eyeing a broader, 10-year framework for the U.S.-India defense partnership. They announced their intent to open negotiations for a reciprocal defense procurement agreement and boost the supply of defense goods and services.

Anduril, a California-headquartered defense technology company founded in 2017, has been racking up major contract wins in recent years for hardware and software, and cementing new industry partnerships. Just this week, the firm and Microsoft announced plans for Anduril to take over leadership of the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation Systems (IVAS) program, which could be worth nearly $22 billion if it reaches full fruition.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s new secretary of defense, has said that the Pentagon should prioritize investments in AI, unmanned platforms and counter-drone systems.

“I think we have a unique opportunity to tap into industry, Silicon Valley, other” innovation hubs, Hegseth said last week during a town hall with troops at the Pentagon. “We also have some really fast-moving newer contractors that are willing to work, that have already put a lot of money into R&D that want to help us rapidly field these new systems that we’re going to need for fights in the future.”

Updated on Feb. 14, 2025, at 11:15 AM: This story has been updated to include a statement from Anduril.

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The 16-foot GARC, an unmanned surface vessel, is built by Maritime Applied Physics Corp. The Defense Department has already obligated more than $160 million for the system, according to government contracting data.

Rear Adm. Kevin Smith, the Navy’s program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, told DefenseScoop this week on the sidelines of the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium that he expects to hit the production target of 32 GARCs per month later this year.

“We’re not there yet [but] they’re ramping up” Smith said. “That’s where we’re looking at as far as gearing up.”

The GARC effort previously received funding via the Pentagon’s Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) initiative.

“The program started and … it just blossomed. It took off,” Smith said during a panel at the SNA symposium. “All of our APFIT boats have been built, 24 of them, and they’re all over the country. And we’re looking at maybe sending some overseas.”

Last year, the service stood up a new squadron, USVRON Three, at Naval Base San Diego to oversee a fleet of GARCs and help the sea service integrate, scale, experiment and employ these types of platforms. Eight of those systems have been delivered to the new unit, according to Smith.

During a panel at the SNA conference this week, Vice Adm. Jimmy Pitts, deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities, N9, suggested he’s keen on the autonomous vessels.

“We’re going to use that in a nontraditional sea-denial mission role directly for [U.S. Pacific] Fleet here in the near term,” he said.

A few months ago, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti unveiled her Project 33 initiative that has a goal of scaling robotic and autonomous systems across the force by 2027 so that the sea service will be ready for a potential war against China in the Taiwan Strait or other locations.

“The Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has told his forces to be ready for war by 2027 — we will be more ready,” Franchetti wrote in her CNO Navigation Plan. “Project 33 is how we will get more ready players on the field by 2027. Project 33 sets my targets for pushing hard to make strategically meaningful gains in the fastest possible time with the resources we influence.”

Last year, Franchetti also spearheaded the establishment of a new robotics warfare specialist rating to help facilitate robotic and autonomous system operations and maintenance at the tactical edge. Those personnel will include subject matter experts for computer vision, mission autonomy, navigation autonomy, data systems, AI and machine learning.

The Pentagon is also looking to scale the fielding of small USVs and other types of unmanned platforms via its Replicator initiative, which is the brainchild of Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.

At the SNA symposium, Smith didn’t explicitly mention Replicator or say whether the GARC is one of the platforms selected for scaled-up manufacturing under that initiative, but he noted that the Navy is ramping up production “to try to do what the DepSecDef has been pushing for.”

Smith declined to disclose the total number of GARCs expected to be delivered under the current procurement deal.

Meanwhile, USVRON Three is doing experiments and working to flesh out concepts of operation for the robotic platforms under its purview.

Smith suggested that future decisions about fielding the systems will be made by fleet commanders.

“It’s not a program of record,” he told DefenseScoop. “It’s more learning opportunity for small USVs and getting it into the hands of the sailor to see how we’re going to move forward.”

“The CNO has talked about having, you know, innovative ideas as far as small unmanned surface vessels that you could then use, obviously, in the field. So that’s kind of the thought is that, you know, what do we have available now and what have we learned for rapid fielding,” he said. “But it’s really for the decision of the fleet commander as far as having those assets … available. So it’s just another tool, I guess, in the tool bag as far as capability.”

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In a congressionally-mandated report submitted to lawmakers in December and set to be published Monday, Kendall outlined his prediction on what security environments and technological advancements will contribute to what both the Air and Space Forces will look like in the year 2050. The document covers a broad range of emerging capabilities that will shape future warfare, many of which are underpinned by an expanded use of AI and autonomy.

“It is likely these areas of advanced military technology will be manifest through the increasingly widespread use of autonomy and automation, in all domains, but especially in space, in cyberspace, and in the air,” Kendall wrote in the report, titled “The Department of the Air Force in 2050.”

The assessment comes at a critical inflection point for AI and autonomy, especially their use by the Defense Department as it looks to counter emerging threats from adversaries such as China and Russia. During Kendall’s tenure at the helm of the DAF, both the Air and Space Forces have made strides in leveraging the technologies — from using artificial intelligence to assist personnel in day-to-day tasks to the development of the Air Force’s robotic wingmen known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).

As the technology proliferates in the coming decades, Kendall believes the department’s greatest challenge will be understanding what the right mix of manned and unmanned capabilities will be for specific warfighting functions.

“The hardest thing, I think, for us to come to grips with is going to be the human-machine interface and how the decision making takes place,” Kendall said Monday during an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We’re going to have to figure out how to manage this in a way which is cost effective, which is consistent with our values [and] which is militarily competitive. I think that’s going to be a tough problem to solve.”

Kendall predicted in the report that AI-assisted decision making and support tools will be at the center of many military functions and capabilities by 2050. In particular, he highlighted that AI will likely inform battle management platforms to quickly inform mission planning and also help extract relevant target identification and tracking information from multi-sensor databases.

“Victory or defeat in the air or in space at the human scale is likely to be determined by which combatant has fielded the most advanced AI technology in the areas most crucial to achieving victory,” Kendall wrote.

At the same time, autonomous systems will likely become even more common in warfare by 2050 than they are today in Ukraine and the Middle East, Kendall noted. While space systems have always carried a significant degree of autonomous capability, aerial platforms and weapons are also expected to operate with less human intervention.

The Air Force is on a path to introduce more intelligent autonomous systems into the force with its planned fleet of CCA drones, expected to fly alongside the service’s manned fighter jets to conduct various missions. Contractors General Atomics and Anduril are gearing up for first flights of their respective Increment 1 CCA prototypes in 2025, and the Air Force is already in planning stages for the follow-on Increment 2.

Kendall said at CSIS that he expects the Air Force to use a mix of manned and unmanned platforms “for a long time” — pushing back on recent comments made from tech titan and top Trump advisor Elon Musk that urged the U.S. military to stop buying manned aircraft. 

“We’ve got to think through the command and control, and I think for the foreseeable future crewed fighters are going to be managing the formation that includes CCAs,” Kendall said.

Introduction of more autonomy and artificial intelligence will also require a significant culture change within the Department of the Air Force, which is another battle all in itself, Kendall noted.

“The culture and the history and the legacy of the Air Force, which I have been steeped in — particularly for the last few years, but also for my whole life — really is about the role of the pilot,” he said. “Letting go, to some degree of that, I think is an incredibly difficult, emotional thing for people to do.”

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