America is investing like never before in uncrewed systems—and the stakes have never been higher.
As global threats accelerate and battlefield environments grow more contested, the U.S. is making an unprecedented push to operationalize trusted autonomous systems in alignment with Executive Orders on Buy American, supply chain security and industrial base growth. With $13.4 billion in requested FY26 funding for uncrewed and autonomous technologies—including $9.4 billion for UAVs and nearly $2 billion for maritime platforms—the defense community is entering a new phase of rapid scaling and strategic alignment.
