The Pentagon requested a 24,000% increase for DAWG, from $226M to $54.6B. More money, more problems.
This kind of increase doesn't fix what's broken. It risks amplifying it. The acquisition system already struggles to move at the speed of the drone threat. Pouring $54.6B into that system, most of it through reconciliation that may not survive midterms, doesn't fix what's broken and produce capability. It produces programs. And programs have a way of becoming the thing that slows everything down.
There's a law for this. Gall's Law: "A complex system that works evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work."
The temptation with $54.6B is to design the perfect autonomous warfare architecture. The integrated kill chain. The unified drone fleet. The master plan. And then spend three years building it while Ukraine and the Middle East keep proving that duct-tape systems fielded in weeks outperform exquisite programs delivered in years.
The demand signal here is real. The DoD wants autonomous systems, counter-UAS, contested logistics at scale. JIATF 401 is already spending $600M at record pace. CCA is in production competition. $70B+ in total drone spend across the budget. The need is not in question.
The challenge is execution. Not more planning. Not bigger programs. Fast iteration. Simple systems that work today, evolved by the people closest to the problem.
That means empowering mission owners and industry to solve this together. Small teams. Real authority. Short feedback loops between the field and the factory. Not a $54.6B program office that takes two years to stand up.
Those who start with simple systems that work will outrun all the program offices talking about the perfect one.
Start small. Start now. Evolve fast.