Signal Pentagon "AI-First" Military — $54.6B DAWG Request, Anthropic "Supply Chain Risk" Designation

Summary

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified on April 29, 2026 that the military would "shortly announce a sub-unified command for autonomous warfare," saying drones are "so central to the future of warfare" that the US must make the best ones. The Pentagon's fiscal 2027 budget request — part of a $1.5 trillion total defense request, a 44% increase over FY2026 and the largest in US history — includes $58.5 billion for AI and CJADC2, and roughly $54 billion for autonomous and remotely operated systems across air, land, sea and undersea domains, including a $39.2 billion "Drone Dominance" program; aggregated across all drone- and counter-drone-related lines, the total approaches $74 billion. The Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), which absorbed the dissolved Replicator initiative in late 2025, is requesting $54.6 billion for FY2027 — a nearly 24,000% jump from its $225.9 million FY2026 funding — with official Jay Hurst describing it as a "pathfinder" testing autonomy systems and orchestration tools with industry. Retired general and former CIA Director David Petraeus called DAWG "the largest single commitment to autonomous warfare in history." US Southern Command has separately established its own autonomous warfare command to work alongside DAWG. The department has separately designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, according to earlier reporting.