AUVSI's Replicator Updates: August 22, 2024

Welcome back to AUVSI’s biweekly newsletter to keep the uncrewed and autonomous systems industries updated on DOD’s Replicator initiative.

Government Updates We’re Tracking

Autonomous Maritime Domain Capabilities Awarded in Support of Replicator

• What’s new: The Navy and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) have partnered to prototype small unmanned surface vehicles (sUSV). DIU and the Navy have contracted with selected companies following a competitive evaluation of production capacity, vehicle performance, and autonomy capabilities of each of their sUSVs.
• What’s next: Each company’s production plans and processes will undergo an independent, third-party manufacturing readiness assessment to identify any production constraints, supply chain risks, and areas for improved readiness.

Report to Congress on the Replicator Initiative

• CRS recap: To date, DOD officials have confirmed the selection of AeroVironment 's Switchblade 600 loitering munition as well as unspecified “uncrewed surface vehicles, uncrewed aerial systems, and counter-uncrewed aerial systems of various sizes and payloads.”
• New in: Anduril Industries 's Dive-LD uncrewed undersea vehicle is reportedly also among those selected.

Keynote Address by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H. Hicks: "Structuring Change to Last"

• What they're saying: "Although we have lots more work to do, we are on track to meet Replicator's original goal of 'multiple thousands in multiple domains in 18-24 months' — that is, by the end of August 2025. In so doing, Replicator is demonstrating from the top and across the enterprise how to deliver all kinds of capabilities at speed and scale," said DepSecDef Hicks.

Replicator News We’re Reading

To best China, Pentagon must shed "the same old mindsets" Axios, Colin Demarest

• Why it matters: The Defense Department's inability to make unorthodox bets, feed a vibrant industrial base and embrace readily available technologies has rendered it under-supplied, the target of dual-use evangelists and vulnerable to more nimble adversaries.

Two programs suggest the Pentagon is getting better at buying technology Defense One, Patrick Tucker

• Zoom out: A pair of new reports—from Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) —say that the Maven and Collaborative Combat Aircraft efforts display real steps forward for buying technology at lower cost quickly, at least when it comes to AI-driven capabilities.
• What they're saying: “The CCA program and others like it, such as the Replicator initiative, show that the DOD is trying to change and maintain its competitiveness in a new military technology equilibrium where mass once again matters.”

Second Replicator tranche to include Anduril’s autonomous underwater drones Defense Scoop, Brandi Vincent

• Demand signal to industry: Anduril Industries recently announced plans to launch a new factory to speed up the manufacturing of Dive-LD uncrewed systems.

The appetite for US defence tech is growing Financial Times, John Thornhill

• Spurring private investment: VC firms, which had long steered clear of defence tech, are also rediscovering an appetite for the sector. Having the Pentagon as a massive customer of first resort certainly adds to the appeal. According to PitchBook, VCs invested more than $120bn globally in the defence sector over the past three years,

US Replicator drone programme enters second year facing uncertainties and challenges Shephard News

• What industry is watching: Although the Pentagon, its services and agencies claim to have advanced with the Replicator effort, its future remains clouded by issues relating to budget, doctrine and integration.

Swarmbotics founders grew ‘obsessed with robot swarms’ and now plan to bring them to the battlefield Tech Crunch, Aria Alamalhodaei

• The big picture: Shifting from expensive systems to lower-cost platforms has been a sweeping effort across multiple DOD programs. The DOD has set up massive initiatives, like Replicator, to try to get low-cost systems at volume from private industry.

The Pentagon Is Planning a Drone ‘Hellscape’ to Defend Taiwan Wired, Jared Keller

• Zoom out: Replicator isn’t the US military’s only effort to incorporate uncrewed weapons platforms into its formations. (1) The Army has requested Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance semiautonomous loitering munitions. (2) The Marine Corps has selected three defense contractors— AeroVironment , Anduril Industries , and Teledyne FLIR —to compete for kamikaze drone swarms. (3) US Special Operations Command now wants to outfit its fleet of aircraft with air-launched systems. (4) The Marine Corps has been experimenting with uncrewed surface vessels, while the (5) Navy has been eyeing missile-hauling drone boats.

Arsenal of bureaucracy: US lagging behind China in acquiring weapons needed for a future war Washington Examiner, Jamie McIntyre

• Positive trend line: One bright spot, an example of more forward-thinking defense spending, is the Pentagon’s Replicator program, which draws on the lessons from Ukraine by aiming to mass-produce drones using commercially available technology.

AUVSI's Defense Advocacy Committee advances policies and funding for uncrewed and autonomous systems in the Department of Defense, ensuring the U.S. remains at the forefront of autonomous defense technologies. Learn more or contact Michael Smitsky, Esq.