The Pentagon has announced a new four-star military command dedicated to the rapid adoption of killer robots and other autonomous weapons. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the announcement during his “State of the Force” address on Wednesday at the Quantico Marine base in Virginia.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: “Today, at my direction, we are announcing the creation of Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom, a new four-star combatant command with service-like authorities built to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the joint force in the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history. Drone warfare supercharged by SI-enabled targeting is the biggest battlefield revolution in generations.”

Amnesty International has called for a ban on killer robots, writing, “The replacement of troops with machines makes the decision to go to war easier — and through illegal transfers and battlefield capture, these weapons will fall into hands of others.”

Meanwhile, Secretary Hegseth confirmed the military will cut 20% of its generals and admirals. This comes after he consistently blocked promotions for several high-ranking Black and female officers. Hegseth declared, “We are no longer the woke department.” He also singled out reporters in the auditorium, calling them “anti-American losers in our media” and accusing them of “treason” for reporting critically on the Pentagon. And Hegseth announced a new Pentagon project on the future of warfare led by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Trump donor and weapons entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and trillionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, which receives billions of dollars in Pentagon contracts.