US military must adapt as formations will be ‘hunted’ by autonomous systems, Caine says

Defense News | Cristina Stassis

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned at the 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference that future United States military formations will be systematically hunted by autonomous systems, jammed across the electromagnetic spectrum, and tracked in real time. This operational shift requires the 2.8 million-member joint force to rapidly field an agile, high-low mix of combat capabilities to generate lethality at scale.

Adversaries are already exploiting these dynamics through interconnected technology and intelligence sharing. For instance, Russia and Iran have established a deep military partnership, exchanging Shahed attack drones, satellite imagery, and targeting data to challenge American forces. Time is of the essence. Consequently, the military is accelerating its integration of artificial intelligence and unmanned systems, as demonstrated by a June rescue of two Army soldiers using a Navy unmanned surface vessel. Ultimately, maintaining a competitive advantage from the seabed to cislunar space depends on developing adaptive leaders capable of operating under intense electromagnetic degradation.

Comment

The proliferation of low-cost, autonomous threat vectors like the Shahed-136 forces a fundamental reassessment of traditional force concentration. Historically, Western military doctrine relied on establishing localised air and electromagnetic superiority to protect concentrated formations. Interconnected Russian and Iranian sensor networks now render static command nodes highly vulnerable. Consequently, U.S. Joint Force survivability dictates a transition toward highly dispersed, decentralised units.

This decentralisation relies on resilient, low-bandwidth communication architectures to maintain cohesive command without emitting detectable electromagnetic signatures. Tactical units increasingly employ passive sensing and localised edge computing, mirroring systems tested during the Navy's recent unmanned surface vessel rescue. Processing data locally allows forward-deployed U.S. Army units to evade Russian Krasukha electronic warfare systems while retaining the tactical initiative.

Strategic Question for Discussion

If adversaries widely deploy autonomous systems like the Shahed-136, how does the U.S. Joint Force maintain command cohesion when forced into extreme electromagnetic silence?

The trajectory indicates that maintaining cohesion under these conditions involves a shift toward intent-based mission command rather than continuous active oversight. The U.S. Joint Force will likely rely on pre-delegated engagement authorities and localised algorithmic decision-making to execute operations during periods of complete disconnection. This approach suggests that tactical success against autonomous threats will depend more on doctrinal trust than on real-time technological connectivity.

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