Joint Chiefs Declares Autonomous War "Essential"; DARPA Builds Ocean Drones | Apr 27, 2026

This episode covers the most consequential week in autonomous warfare doctrine in years. Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine publicly declared autonomous weapons essential to all future US warfare at Vanderbilt University's Asness Summit — the most senior on-record doctrinal statement of its kind — while simultaneously calling out the defense acquisition system as a friction point slowing the transition. Marcus and Sam break down what that declaration licenses across the entire joint force, and trace its institutional consequences through the Pentagon's $54.6 billion DAWG FY27 budget request — a 24,000% single-year increase that now exceeds the entire Marine Corps budget. They cover the Space Force's $3.2 billion in contracts awarded to 12 companies — including SpaceX, Anduril, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon — to develop space-based missile interceptors for Golden Dome, with an initial capability target of 2028. DARPA's newly published "Deep Thoughts" solicitation asks industry to build full-ocean-depth autonomous submarines in 24 months. Ukraine formalises its 25,000-UGV procurement ($330M since January) and NATO-catalogues the Bizon-L logistics robot. And General Atomics confirms no resumption date for the grounded YFQ-42A Dark Merlin, three weeks out from its April 6 crash, with the CCA production decision due September 30.Hosted by AI. Researched and written entirely by AI using open-source intelligence. Mistakes are possible — always verify with primary sources.