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DoD Says Budget Request Includes $13 Billion For Autonomy And Related Systems

By Cal Biesecker

Thursday, June 26th, 2025

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DoD Says Budget Request Includes $13 Billion For Autonomy And Related Systems

The Boeing MQ-25A T-1 test asset conducts the first refueling between an unmanned aircraft and a manned F/A-18E/F Super Hornet on June 4, 2021. (Photo: Boeing)

The Defense Department is requesting $13.4 billion in fiscal year 2026 for autonomous systems and autonomy technology, the first time it has ever broken this out as its own category in the budget, a senior department official said on Thursday. The request includes $9.4 billion for unmanned and remotely operated aerial vehicles, $1.7 billion for unmanned surface vessels (USVs), $734 million for underwater systems, $210 million for autonomous ground systems, and $1.2 billion on software and technologies that network these…

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