The following is the Aug. 20, 2024, Congressional Research Service In Focus report, DOD Replicator Initiative: Background and Issues for Congress.
From the report
Replicator, unveiled on August 28, 2023, is a Department of Defense (DOD) initiative, led by DOD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), to field thousands of uncrewed systems by August 2025. Replicator’s first line of effort (“Replicator 1”) is to field all-domain, attritable autonomous (ADA2) systems. Attritable systems are comparatively low-cost systems with which DOD tolerates a greater degree of risk of system loss. DOD officials state that future lines of effort may focus on other types of uncrewed systems. A key issue facing Congress is whether to approve, reject, or modify DOD’s funding requests for Replicator, and whether Congress has adequate information about Replicator to assess its merits and conduct effective oversight of the initiative.
Background
DOD officials state that the Replicator initiative draws from lessons learned in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, in which Ukraine has leveraged large numbers (estimated by observers to be as many as 10,000 per month) of low-cost attritable systems to counter the Russian military’s advantage in force strength. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks—who, with the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, oversees Replicator—has stated that Replicator is intended to “help [the United States] overcome [the Chinese military’s] advantage in mass: more ships, more missiles, more forces.”
DOD officials describe Replicator as an all-domain initiative that could include autonomous aerial, ground, surface, sub-surface, and/or space systems representing a range of capabilities and mission sets. For example, Deputy Secretary Hicks stated that Replicator could include “distributed pods of self-propelled ADA2 [sensor] systems” to provide near-real time intelligence, “fleets of ground-based ADA2 systems delivering novel logistics support … or securing DOD infrastructure,” or space-based ADA2 systems to provide resilient communications.
Intent
Replicator is to deploy uncrewed systems en masse, allowing the U.S. military to disperse combat power over a large number of relatively inexpensive systems. Replicator is intended to
- avoid concentrating U.S. combat power into a smaller number of individually more expensive platforms (i.e., help avoid putting too many eggs into one basket);
- make it harder for an adversary to target and neutralize U.S. capabilities; and
- create an unfavorable cost-exchange ratio for the adversary, meaning a situation in which the adversary
- would need to use a countermeasure, such as an interceptor missile, that has a much higher cost than the Replicator system against which it is directed.
Some observers have stated that, depending on the capabilities of Replicator systems, the Replicator initiative could lead to the development of new military concepts of operation, such as swarming. Swarming is a form of cooperative behavior in a group of uncrewed systems, in which the uncrewed systems autonomously coordinate with one another to accomplish a mission. Swarming would likely require further advancements in artificial intelligence and/or networked communications to be deployed.
DOD officials state that, in contrast to large and individually expensive systems such as aircraft carriers, Replicator systems are intended to be built and deployed more quickly, and to be used for significantly shorter periods of time before being replaced by successor designs. (They emphasize, however, that Replicator is intended to supplement—not replace—more exquisite systems.) These officials state that Replicator is thus intended to improve DOD’s processes for rapidly scaling, fielding, and innovating new capabilities. They note that Replicator is also intended to accelerate the development of the U.S. drone industrial base.
Specific Replicator Capabilities and Systems
DOD has released only limited information about specific Replicator capabilities or systems due to what DOD states are operational security concerns. Deputy Secretary Hicks has stated that DOD intends to reveal details about the Replicator initiative, including information about specific capabilities and systems, “at a time and place and manner of our choosing.” 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.” Anduril’s Dive-LD uncrewed undersea vehicle is reportedly also among those selected.
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