{"id":10305,"date":"2026-04-23T21:06:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/autonomous-weapons-will-be-key-part-of-us-warfare-joint-chiefs-chairman\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:06:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:06:49","slug":"autonomous-weapons-will-be-key-part-of-us-warfare-joint-chiefs-chairman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/autonomous-weapons-will-be-key-part-of-us-warfare-joint-chiefs-chairman\/","title":{"rendered":"Autonomous weapons will be ‘key part’ of US warfare: Joint Chiefs chairman"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NASHVILLE<\/strong>\u2014Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said Thursday that autonomous weapons are going to be a \u201ckey and essential part of everything we do\u201d when asked about how such tools would fit into the future of warfare.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a fireside chat at Vanderbilt University\u2019s Asness Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats, Caine said, \u201cWe are doing a lot of thinking about this in the joint force right now\u201d on how autonomous tech would be applied to areas like drones and command-and-control operations.<\/p>\n

His remarks signal that the U.S. military is keen on crafting plans to further adopt artificial intelligence tools and other evolving technologies that would automate national security decisions made in the Defense Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably everybody in this room uses some flavor of a [large language model] every single day,\u201d he said, adding the same can\u2019t be said for staff in the halls of the Pentagon. \u201cSo,\u00a0we have to really normalize this and become early adopters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remarks come as observers weigh tensions between the Pentagon and Anthropic, which recently unveiled a powerful frontier AI model, Mythos Preview, that was held back from public release over cybersecurity risks, paired with a new initiative to study its effects on global networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Intelligence community units have expressed interest in Mythos, Nextgov\/FCW<\/em> previously reported. The NSA, a component of the DOD, has been granted access to it, Axios reported Sunday.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Anthropic declined to ease restrictions against its tools being used for domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons for Pentagon use, triggering a \u201csupply chain risk\u201d designation from the Defense Department and a White House order that all federal agencies phase out their uses of Anthropic tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company has legally challenged the move, and a federal judge issued a temporary injunction on the designation and ban in late March. The government has said it intends to appeal the injunction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This week, President Donald Trump said in a CNBC interview that the company is \u201cshaping up\u201d and can \u201cbe of great use\u201d in the future, a sign that tensions between Anthropic and the government may be easing up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The use of AI in military operations often draws scrutiny because it can speed up battlefield decisions while blurring human accountability, and it can raise doubts about whether such systems would reliably comply with the laws of war. Lawmakers have asked the Pentagon whether AI systems were used in a deadly strike on an Iranian school\u00a0during\u00a0the opening hours of the U.S.-Israel war against Tehran.<\/p>\n

Caine also said U.S. government agencies need to be \u201cbetter buyers\u201d for the private sector. \u201cWe have to write better contracts,\u201d he said, elaborating that current acquisition frameworks are slowing contract workflows.<\/p>\n

Contracts should be structured so risk is shared between buyers and sellers with the goal of bringing better outcomes for servicemembers, he added.\n\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n