What’s next for the Pentagon after the Replicator programme?
A US Army UAS operator launches a drone during an exercise at Fort Hood, Texas. (Photo: US Army)
Although the Replicator initiative has made several accomplishments, there are still multiple gaps to plug across the US Department of Defense (DoD) and its services.
The Replicator programme, an ambitious Pentagon effort to field thousands of attritable, autonomous systems across all domains in 24 months, has reached the two-year mark today (28 August). Despite recording advancements in multiple areas, the initiative leaves several issues to be addressed, according to industry and military experts.
During a recent webinar conducted by the US-based think tank Brookings Institution, issues raised included integration and doctrine challenges and the pressing concern to improve in-service capabilities and expand their deployment while better preparing warfighters to operate current and future robotic platforms. Powering autonomous systems, for instance, is still an area to be
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