Pentagon asks $54.6B for autonomous group

- The Pentagon requested $54.6 billion in FY2027 funding for a new Defense Autonomous Warfare Group to scale autonomous systems and related programs. - That budget request represents a roughly 24,000% increase in dedicated funding and explicitly references procurement links to SpaceX, OpenAI and Nvidia. - The move pushes primes and startups such as Anduril, Shield AI and Skydio into procurement focus after lessons from Ukraine about cheap drones versus expensive interceptors. (x.com 1) (x.com 2)