AFA Opposes Proposed Robotic and Autonomous Command

ARLINGTON, Va., July 6, 2026 — The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA), in a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Ranking Member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), expressed its strong objection to pending legislation intended to establish a new combatant command for Robotic and Autonomous Systems.

Section 917 of the proposed 2027 National Defense Authorization bill would establish a new U.S. Robotic and Autonomous Command (RASCOM) that “would greatly complicate the development, acquisition and operational use of … the unmanned systems of all services,” wrote AFA Chairman Kathleen Ferguson and AFA President and CEO Lt. Gen. Burt Field, USAF (Ret.), in the June 30 letter.

“It is beyond doubt that UAS and unmanned systems will play an ever-increasing and essential role in securing decisive advantages for our servicemembers,” Ferguson and Field wrote. “But rather than facilitating the timely development, acquisition and operational utilization of these systems, we believe Section 917, which creates a new combatant command, will unintentionally slow their development and hinder their effective employment.”

Combatant Commands are designed to centralize command and control of disparate elements of the joint force under a unified commander. COCOMs can be organized geographically, such as U.S. European Command or U.S. Pacific Command, or functionally, such as U.S. Special Operations Command or U.S. Transportation Command.

“But in the case of unmanned systems, will not more value be created by coordinating unmanned aircraft systems development with those developing other types of aircraft?” AFA’s leaders ask Wicker and Reed in the letter. Organizing a combatant command around one type of weapon—in this case, unmanned air, ground, and sea systems, as opposed to crewed systems operating in the same domains—makes little sense in a world where wars are waged in multiple domains concurrently, the letter argues.

It would therefore be a mistake to establish a command, as the proposed legislation seeks to do, that would be “responsible for, and have the authority to conduct, all functions relating to robotic and autonomous systems, including… operational employment through other combatant commands.”

Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF (Ret.), dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, argued this point clearly in a recent commentary: “If autonomous and AI-empowered systems are placed under a separate technology-specific combatant command, they risk being separated from the commanders responsible for the outcome of the fight,” he said. “That creates friction where the military needs speed and it would introduce a new seam in command and control precisely when modern warfare demands tighter integration across domains.”

Field and Ferguson commended Chairman Wicker and Senator Reed for their leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the extensive support they have lent to airpower and spacepower, both in that role over the years and through other provisions in the 2027 Authorization bill. “AFA is grateful for the numerous provisions in the NDAA which enhance the recapitalization and readiness of the Air Force,” they said. But “we believe inclusion of Section 917 in the final legislation will greatly complicate the development, acquisition and operational use of UASs and the unmanned systems of other services.”

The Senate should ultimately reject this proposal and remove it from the bill, AFA concluded.

To add your voice to this effort, visit AFA’s Letters to the Hill webpage.

About AFA

The Air & Space Forces Association is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) association dedicated to advocating for the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Space Force, Airmen, Guardians, and their Families. Founded in 1946, AFA is the single largest entity of its kind focused on air and space power. With more than 350,000 members and 200 chapters spread around the world, our mission is to promote dominant U.S. Air Force and Space Force as the foundation of a strong National Defense; to honor and support Airmen, Guardians, and their Families; and to remember and respect the enduring heritage of the Air Force and Space Force.