Drawing on lessons from the Ukrainian conflict, the U. S. Department of Defense is preparing to develop drone swarms controlled by voice commands, Bloomberg reports, citing its sources.

The project centers on software capable of converting an operator’s spoken instructions into digital commands. These signals would enable a group of unmanned aerial vehicles to autonomously track and engage targets.

A closed competition for the contract was launched in January 2026. Only a handful of companies are involved, competing for a $100 million deal. The timeline is notably tight: developers are expected to deliver the software within six months, underscoring the project’s priority status.

Bloomberg notes that SpaceX and its subsidiary xAI, both owned by Elon Musk, are among the participants in the classified Pentagon tender focused on voice-based autonomous control of drone swarms.

The development is overseen by Pentagon structures and aligns directly with the U.S. vision of future warfare. That concept relies on the large-scale deployment of autonomous systems operating without human involvement in the tactical decision-making cycle.

It is also worth noting that Musk has previously spoken out against the creation of new weapons designed to kill people.