The Pentagon has begun sending systems to Indo-Pacific Command as part of Replicator – a program aimed at expediting the purchase and delivery of drones.
In a brief statement, the Deputy Defense Minister said Kathleen Hickswho runs the program, said deliveries began earlier in May.
Replicator has two purposes. The first is to deploy thousands of drones within two years of the announcement, or by August 2025. The second is to learn to use the Pentagon’s muscle memory to perform these kinds of sprints when it needs weapons on demand.
The Pentagon is coy about which systems will be part of the program. The officials behind it say this is intentional. Replicator is focused on countering China, and they don’t want to tell the Chinese military what to prepare for.
In a briefing earlier this month, senior defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the first set of systems in Replicator will include AeroVironment’s Switchblade 600, a loitering munition. It also includes maritime drones purchased through a solicitation posted earlier this year by the Defense Innovation Unit, which buys high-tech weapons for the Pentagon.
“Even as we ship systems, our end-to-end capability development process continues,” Hicks said in the statement, a nod to Replicator still being a work in progress.
Between this fiscal year and FY25, the Pentagon has requested $1 billion to fund the program. The FY24 money comes in part from a reprogramming request sent to Congress seeking authorization to move existing money. The $500 million for FY25 is already included in the Pentagon’s proposed budget, but is spread across several funding lines.
