DOD Innovation Official Discusses Progress on Replicator

The Defense Department is integrating lessons learned from executing the first iteration of its Replicator initiative as it tackles the next phase of the effort to put cutting-edge capabilities in the hands of warfighters, said a senior Defense Innovation Unit official today.

Aditi Kumar, DIU's deputy director, said the department is on track to meet its goal of fielding thousands of autonomous systems across multiple warfighting domains under Replicator 1 and has begun executing the second phase of the initiative focused on counter drone capabilities.

"Looking back [at] when [Replicator 1] was first launched and thinking through the timelines of how we are going to do this in 24 months it was very daunting," Kumar said during a discussion hosted by the Hudson Institute, a policy think tank, in Washington. "Sixteen months in, though, we're in good shape."

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks unveiled the Replicator initiative in August 2023 as one approach DOD is taking to meet the challenges laid out in the National Defense Strategy, which identifies China as the United States' pacing challenge.

The first iteration of the initiative is focused on fielding thousands of autonomous systems across multiple domains within the next 18 to 24 months, as part of the Pentagon's strategy to counter China's rapid armed forces buildup.

It focuses on fielding "attritable" capabilities - platforms that are unmanned and built affordably - allowing commanders to tolerate a higher degree of risk in employing them.

"Our acquisition enterprise is sprinting, and our commercial vendors are sprinting to pull these off the production lines and get them into the hands of the warfighter," Kumar said today.

She added that a key, overarching goal of replicator is improving the defense acquisition process more broadly and accelerating the development and fielding of critical defense technologies.

To that end, DIU remains focused on taking lessons learned from each iteration of Replicator and applying them to the next.

In September, Hicks set the direction for Replicator 2 which will focus on countering the threat posed by small, uncrewed arial systems to warfighters and defense installations.

Countering unmanned systems has emerged as a focus area for the Pentagon, which has identified unmanned aerial systems as a significant threat to U.S. personnel and facilities abroad and, increasingly, in the U.S. homeland.

Last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III signed a classified strategy for countering the threat posed by unmanned systems aimed at unifying DOD's approach across domains.

In outlining the focus for Replicator 2, Hicks also set an 18-to-24-month timeline to put capabilities in the hands of warfighters.

Kumar said DIU is on track to meet these timelines as it executes both phases of the initiative in parallel.

She highlighted key lessons from the first phase that DIU is applying as it moves forward.

First, she said, DIU has worked to further increasing communication between DOD and the private sector.

As an example, she said DIU hosted a round table with commercial stakeholders and investors last week following the release of the counter unmanned aerial systems strategy "to really clarify our demand signal and the types of systems and capabilities that we will be pursuing as part of Replicator 2."

Secondly, Kumar emphasized the importance of tackling the toughest challenges early on in the development process.

Kumar also emphasized the importance of early and frequent communication with Congress. Doing so, she said, helps garner support from lawmakers as the department begins to address funding for what amounts to an "enormous challenge."

"We have already been on the Hill talking to them about what Replicator 2 looks [like], what types of capabilities we're looking to field and in what locations," she said.