The Department of Defense announced a new initiative on Monday to build thousands of unmanned weapons systems within the next two years in order to counter China's military.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks unveiled the Replicator initiative on Monday during her keynote speech titled “The Urgency to Innovate” during the NDIA Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference. China's biggest military advantage over the United States is "mass," she said, and that's why the U.S. intends to rectify it with "more ships. More missiles. More people."
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The department has already been investing in "attritable autonomous systems," which are low-cost systems that are unmanned, Hicks said, specifically highlighting "self-piloting ships and uncrewed aircraft and more." The goal for the Replicator initiative is for DOD to field "multiple thousands" of systems within the next 18 to 24 months, though she did not narrow down the ballpark of the goal.
"To be clear, America still benefits from platforms that are large, exquisite, expensive, and few. But Replicator will galvanize progress in the too-slow shift of U.S. military innovation to leverage platforms that are small, smart, cheap, and many. So now is the time to take all-domain, attritable autonomy to the next level: to produce and deliver capabilities to warfighters at the volume and velocity required to deter aggression or win if we're forced to fight," Hicks said.
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Hicks will oversee the effort, along with the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with support from the Defense Innovation Unit.
“We must ensure [China’s] leadership wakes up every day, considers the risks of aggression, and concludes, ‘Today is not the day’ — and not just today, but every day between now and 2027, 2035, 2049, and beyond. Innovation is vital to how we do that," she said, referencing China's three primary military modernization targets for development and expansion.