As I like to say, words mean things.
I was looking for a quick summary of the significance of the Battle of Agincourt and why it might have been chosen as the name for the effort to, in a year’s time, set up a new 4-star functional combatant command, the Autonomous Warfare Command.
In a discussion of Jodi Taylor’s fictional novel A Second Chance, Hazel Cushion over at Welcome to Jodi Taylor Books made a solid summary.
The Battle of Agincourt …. demonstrated that a well-disciplined force, equipped with innovative tactics and superior weaponry, could overcome numerical superiority on the battlefield. Moreover, Agincourt shattered the myth of invincibility surrounding the French knights, paving the way for future military innovations and strategic thinking.
That captures what everyone is trying to do.
How do we need to look at Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) as a key to battlefield success for our nation as we approach 2030? How do we reshape our large and unwieldy defense sector to rise to the occasion?
With the 5th anniversary of the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022 six months away—and with things having finally evolved to demonstrate the central role RAS will have in future wars at sea and ashore—we have finally decided that our leisurely pace, bureaucratic sloth, and general appreciating-the-situationness were not sufficient for the needs of the moment. We need to move faster with more. Inside our system, besides requirements and needs (not always the same), how do we do that?
You need three things:
Sponsorship
Money
Advocacy
I don’t think anyone has been satisfied with where we are at the opening of 1QFY27. That appears to be the driving force behind it. The existing structures are not getting the job done, so time to change the structure.
Yesterday, among a half-dozen areas covered in his State of the Force speech (the other five I may cover next week in whole or in part), Secretary of War Hegseth brought up a solution his team has come up with to get things up on step. I’ll put the video of the speech at the bottom of this post.
The process is Operation Agincourt. The endgame is a 4-star Autonomous Warfare Command to be stood up a year from now, October 1st, 2027.
The full memo is below, I cover a few items that stuck out to me after the memo.
We have got to find something better, name-wise, than that acronym that…well…how do you pronounce that, “Der-PUM-ux-es”? At first glance, you have to wonder: is that one of Elon Musk’s kids?
This clearly states that while it will be a combatant command, it will be a supporting command, and the existing COCOMs will be the supported.
This is an aggressive but necessary and doable timeline.
“…rebalanced Joint Force investment allocation…”, money, people, and authorities are going to be moved around. Lots of cheese to move. This is where the fighting will be. I hope that this restructuring, from a personnel point of view, will be created out of existing funded billets from other commands, i.e. no increase in staff bloat.
Congress will have to put in necessary legislation. We’ll see what happens after the election.
The next year will require a lot of work, done quickly, with a new Congress, and a ticking clock.
For those in the right place at the right time, what a great opportunity.
Hegseth may yet prove to be Trump’s best appointment.
I would only add that while the SecWar is a lot about thinking about technology he is also paying close attention to appearance, physical fitness and other personnel issues.
Clearly he understands that in the end the war is won by the Soldier or Marine who carries a rifle and plants the flag on the enemy position.
This was a breakout talk by SecWar Hegseth; all about a massive internal military transformation that reflects a dramatic shift away from America's post-Cold War cultural & strategic lethargy. And NOT to a room full of generals, admirals and senior enlisted.
No, PBH addressed his words to... a room full of E-6s & O-3s! Oh, how the Policymaking Wonks & Wannabes must have wished for a ticket. But historically, it's the young, deckplate cadre who form the cutting edge of actual doers within the battlespace. And... they are the "Backbone of the Army," to borrow a line from Kipling's poem "The 'Eathen" (look it up), which emphasizes the realities of combat and importance of leadership and discipline within the ranks.
Looking ahead, you can measure the merit of an idea by the numbers and kinds of opponents it generates. And so we shall see...