One year after Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks first announced the Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative at the NDIA Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference, Hicks returned to the conference on Wednesday to say the initiative is “on track” to meet its initial goal.
The Replicator initiative – which is overseen by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) – aims to field thousands of innovative systems across multiple domains and into the hands of warfighters by August 2025, as part of the Pentagon’s strategy to counter China’s rapid armed forces buildup.
“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,” Hicks said in her keynote speech.
“In so doing, Replicator is demonstrating from the top and across the enterprise how to deliver all kinds of capabilities at speed and scale,” she added.
The DoD announced in May that it secured $500 million for the first tranche of capabilities for its Replicator initiative.
The first tranche of Replicator capabilities includes uncrewed surface vehicles, uncrewed aerial systems, and counter-uncrewed aerial systems of various sizes and payloads from several traditional and non-traditional vendors.
Hicks said that the DoD has already launched multiple commercial solutions openings (CSOs) to diversify the vendor base for capabilities such as uncrewed surface vessels and all-domain attritable autonomous systems (ADA2).
“Over 550 hardware and software companies have sent submissions to Replicator-related CSOs. Some don’t even know they’re about Replicator,” she said. “And we’re already looking beyond ADA2 systems to identify Replicator’s second capability focus area.”
With normal DoD processes, Hicks said this process can take seven to 10 years for similar-sized capabilities. However, she noted the Replicator team has done it in under 12 months, “and that should be truly mind-blowing.”
“To go from start-to-fielding inside our two-year budget cycle is not normal. It’s disruptive. But by leveraging Replicator and our other key initiatives, we are making it more normal, because delivery at speed is essential,” Hicks said.
Hicks also announced that the DoD posted an Innovation Fact Sheet on Wednesday morning to highlight the department’s recent work with Replicator and other innovative initiatives.
