Autonomous Weapons Startups Raise $14.6B in Five Months — Surpassing Full-Year 2025 Record — as Pentagon Rewrites AI Kill-Chain Rules

Defense tech VC funding for autonomous weapons and military AI startups exceeded $14.6 billion in the first five months of 2026, more than the full-year 2025 record of $9.6 billion. The surge is concurrent with a governance vacuum: the Trump administration's mandatory 90-day Pentagon rewrite of the legal rules governing AI-powered, machine-speed kill chains is still incomplete. The Senate Armed Services Committee has simultaneously passed an NDAA provision to create a new four-star Robotic and Autonomous Systems Combatant Command.