Gen. Christopher LaNeve, vice chief of staff and acting chief of staff of the Army, selected the service’s Futures and Concepts Command to be redesigned as the Futures and Autonomous Systems Command (FASCOM), a move that will consolidate several research and modernization organizations as the service expands the use of autonomous technologies across its combat formations.
LaNeve directed the change following an Oct. 1 memorandum from Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle. The directive calls for changes to Army force structure, acquisition, and personnel, prioritizing autonomous capabilities to be fielded no later than fiscal year 2028.
“This goes beyond drones,” LaNeve said on Oct. 13 at the 2026 Association of the United States Army conference in Washington, D.C. “FASCOM will pioneer operational concepts that harness autonomous capabilities across all warfighting functions.”
According to an Army release, FASCOM will be led by a three-star general and will bring together work from the Combat Capabilities Development Command, Medical Research and Development Command, 75th Innovation Command, Joint Modernization Command, and Transformation Decision Analysis Center.
The restructuring is intended to coordinate research, development, and operational experimentation while supporting the Army’s new Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Autonomy, which will oversee efforts to accelerate the acquisition and fielding of autonomous systems.
“We are incorporating autonomous and unmanned systems at every single echelon across the formation … with the force structure to match … including introducing [drones] and robotics military specialties to integrate these technologies at the point of need,” LaNeve said.
One of FASCOM’s first assignments will be to develop and test corps-level autonomous capabilities. The Army’s five corps will evaluate equipment, tactics, and mission concepts to identify approaches that can be adopted more broadly across the service.
The planned experiments cover several types of autonomous operations.
I Corps will test an autonomous fires battery and autonomous watercraft company, while III Corps will evaluate an autonomous armored reconnaissance company. V Corps will experiment with an autonomous breaching company, and XVIII Airborne Corps will test autonomous aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and lift companies.
The U.S. Eighth Army will focus on teaming crewed and uncrewed rotary-wing aircraft, allowing attack aviation pilots to directly control unmanned aircraft system (UAS) sensors for over-the-horizon targeting and coordinated fires.
That effort builds on work at Fort Rucker, Ala., which LaNeve designated as the Army’s UAS Autonomy Center of Excellence.
“Fort Rucker is unique in that we can bring together warfighting experts and cutting-edge commercial capabilities to test technology the way we intend to fight it,” LaNeve said in a statement. “To ensure that we move swiftly to achieve the Army’s autonomy goals, as of today, Fort Rucker will serve as our UAS Autonomy Center of Excellence.”
Beyond those experiments, FASCOM will develop capability-based formations focused on autonomous long-range fires, protection, tanks, logistics, and obstacle breaching, LaNeve said.