Latest news with #Replicator
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pentagon seeks drone-killing technology that's safe for civilians
The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit plans to issue a solicitation for low-collateral counter-drone technology next week, part of the second iteration of its Replicator rapid-fielding effort that's focused on helping the Pentagon protect its installations from small-drone attacks. DIU Director Doug Beck told House lawmakers Thursday his organization is particularly interested in technologies that can take out drone threats in highly populated areas without major impacts on the environment and, critically, civilians. 'It's really about those low-collateral interceptors and getting after those solutions — whether it's through electronic means, kinetic or ballistic means or other forms of bringing those drones down,' Beck told the House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee in a hearing. Replicator's goal is to create a new pathway for the Pentagon to buy and scale high-need capabilities on faster timelines. Replicator 1, which is ongoing, set out to deliver thousands of low-cost drones by August of this year. Last September, then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the next phase of the effort, dubbed Replicator 2, would center on the small UAS challenge. DIU is leading Replicator 2 and is partnered closely with the Army-led Joint Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems Office, JCO, and the Counter Uncrewed Systems Warfighter Senior Integration Group. Speaking last week at the Apex Conference, DIU's chief of Policy Sunmin Kim said that along with its emphasis on low-collateral defeat systems, Replicator 2 is also focused on identifying more affordable systems that are available either commercially or from traditional defense contractors with mature technology. 'We're interested in low-cost sensing options, so things like passive [radio frequency] radars versus actually using active sensors that we typically do for aircraft,' she said. Defending against adversarial drones is a significant challenge for the U.S. military and its allies — from attacks in the Red Sea to reports of drone swarms flying over domestic bases. The Pentagon has launched a number of efforts and organizations over the last few years to address these threats, including the JCO and the Counter Uncrewed Systems Warfighter Senior Integration Group. Last year, the department designated the commanders of U.S. Northern Command and Indo-Pacific Command as 'lead synchronizers' for counter-UAS operations. And in December, DOD completed a classified counter-UAS strategy meant to provide a 'singular' focus on the most urgent challenges. Military leaders said Thursday that while the Defense Department is making progress identifying technical solutions and working through complex policies and authorizations, it's not moving fast enough. 'We're happy, but we're not satisfied,' Lt. Gen. Eric Austin, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for capabilities, development and integration, said during the hearing. 'We're fielding equipment that has the ability and the built-in open architecture to adapt and improve from a software and a hardware perspective, but we've got a ways to go to keep up with the threat and exceed that threat.' Austin highlighted the Marine Air Defense System, or MADIS, which can integrate with the service's command and control systems and detect and take down small uncrewed aircraft. The Marine Corps also plans to field a prototype this fiscal year of a counter-UAS capability specifically designed to protect dismounted Marines. 'This initiative will put man-portable solutions into Marines' hands at the tactical edge,' Austin said. 'We are feverishly working in belief this will be a model for fielding and iterative improvement.' Maj. Gen. David Stewart, director of the JCO, and Beck both noted that while DOD has made strides toward identifying and developing counter-UAS technologies, it isn't buying and fielding those systems in sufficient quantities. 'I believe and assess the capability is there,' Stewart said. 'We have a bit of a capacity problem across each of the services.' Beck noted that for the services to fill those capacity gaps, they need more resources, authorities and funding flexibility from Congress. 'We need to be doing much, much more,' he said. 'We must put capability in place now. We must dramatically improve our capacity and speed to update unmanned and counter-unmanned technologies. We must build the muscle to do so at greater and greater scale.'
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion - Hegseth wants massive Pentagon cuts, but many obstacles stand in his way
The Pentagon is not unaccustomed to what its denizens term 'cut drills.' These are last-minute orders to find funds to cut, numbering in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, in an upcoming or current budget. Because of the last-minute nature of such requests for budget reductions, the programs most often scuttled are promising new development efforts, whether already in procurement or still in research and development. Legacy programs, on the other hand, which both Pentagon bureaucrats and Hill staffers favor, inevitably avoid the budget guillotine. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's demand for what can only be termed 'the mother of all cut drills' renders it inevitable that few programs, new or long-standing, will survive unscathed. His memo calls for an annual 8 percent reduction in budget authority though fiscal 2030. The Pentagon has indicated that its fiscal 2026 target is about $50 billion in cuts. But that amounts to less than 6 percent of the 2025 Biden defense budget. An 8 percent reduction in actual new budget authority would come to $72 billion in fiscal 2026 and some $375 billion through fiscal 2030. Both sets of estimates appear to be based on an annual inflation rate of 2.1 percent through 2030, which the Department of Defense assumed in its fiscal 2025 budget projection. But that rate seems artificially low, given the likelihood that the inflationary impact of tariffs will drive rates above the already higher current inflation rate of 3 percent. Applying a higher inflation rate could increase the Hegseth targets by at least another $10 billion. Hegseth has indicated that 17 categories of defense spending will be exempted from the proposed cuts. Some of these exemptions are vague programs with potentially major costs. The most egregious example is the plan for an Iron Dome system over America. This effort could cost as much as $100 billion annually through 2030; its total cost has been estimated at $2.5 trillion. Other programs — such as priority critical cybersecurity, 'executable surface ship programs' and what are termed 'Indo-Pacom construction projects' — will be less expensive than Iron Dome, but have yet to have their costs defined. Still other exempted programs with well-developed estimates will also consume a significant portion of the defense budget over the next several years. These include Virginia-class submarines, with a unit cost in excess of $7 billion; the Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, ranging from $750 million in FY 2026 to about $3 billion in FY 2030; the strategic nuclear modernization program, amounting to at least $18 billion annually; and Replicator and other dispensable drones, which, depending on the number purchased, could approach $1 billion. Given the decision to exempt major Navy and Air Force programs, it appears that Army programs, especially Army force levels, will be a major target for significant cuts. While Hegseth is unlikely to reduce military pay and benefits, their costs would drop commensurate with any reductions in military personnel. Civilian employee levels are certain to be another major target for reductions. The number of Defense Department civilians has risen since 2003 by 137,000, or nearly 20 percent, even though the U.S. is not involved in a major conflict. By far the biggest increase has been in the Defense Agencies, totaling over 80 percent. There appears to be no real justification for these increases. Finally, base operations, long considered to be a funding 'black hole' within the operations and maintenance accounts, could also face significant reductions. To achieve these cuts, however, requires an ability to identify how exactly funds for base operations are put to use. That has proved to be exceedingly difficult in past budget reduction attempts . While Army force levels, defense civilians and base operations are likely targets for budget reductions, the Pentagon has but a few days to identify these or other bill-payers for the so-called exempted programs, as well as the sources of the $50 billion or more in budget cuts that Hegseth is seeking. It is noteworthy that the Department of Defense did not list either aircraft carriers or the F-35 program as targets for reductions or even program termination. Until now, the only clearly identified reductions are in so-called 'woke' programs, and climate-change related efforts. Eliminating them will not bring the Pentagon even remotely close to its budget reduction target. To come anywhere close to Hegseth's target, the Pentagon bureaucracy will engage in yet another cut drill, with many promising programs falling on the cutting room floor while legacy activities survive yet again. Moreover, many of the administration's proposed reductions will have to face significant congressional opposition, even from otherwise supportive Republicans. There is a lengthy list of legacy programs that have survived well beyond their optimal service lives due to the jobs they created and sustained in members' districts. Bureaucrats working on these programs have a history of providing legislators with ammunition to sink any effort to kill their pet programs. As a result, even dovish members of Congress have consistently and successfully defended programs located in their district, regardless of expense or military suitability. Hegseth was able to overcome the challenges of Senate confirmation. That experience will be nothing compared to the congressional buzzsaw that is sure to materialize once he has actually specified which Pentagon programs he seeks to cut. He will not find it a pleasant experience. Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
21-02-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Hegseth wants massive Pentagon cuts, but many obstacles stand in his way
The Pentagon is not unaccustomed to what its denizens term 'cut drills.' These are last-minute orders to find funds to cut, numbering in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, in an upcoming or current budget. Because of the last-minute nature of such requests for budget reductions, the programs most often scuttled are promising new development efforts, whether already in procurement or still in research and development. Legacy programs, on the other hand, which both Pentagon bureaucrats and Hill staffers favor, inevitably avoid the budget guillotine. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's demand for what can only be termed 'the mother of all cut drills' renders it inevitable that few programs, new or long-standing, will survive unscathed. His memo calls for an annual 8 percent reduction in budget authority though fiscal 2030. The Pentagon has indicated that its fiscal 2026 target is about $50 billion in cuts. But that amounts to less than 6 percent of the 2025 Biden defense budget. An 8 percent reduction in actual new budget authority would come to $72 billion in fiscal 2026 and some $375 billion through fiscal 2030. Both sets of estimates appear to be based on an annual inflation rate of 2.1 percent through 2030, which the Department of Defense assumed in its fiscal 2025 budget projection. But that rate seems artificially low, given the likelihood that the inflationary impact of tariffs will drive rates above the already higher current inflation rate of 3 percent. Applying a higher inflation rate could increase the Hegseth targets by at least another $10 billion. Hegseth has indicated that 17 categories of defense spending will be exempted from the proposed cuts. Some of these exemptions are vague programs with potentially major costs. The most egregious example is the plan for an Iron Dome system over America. This effort could cost as much as $100 billion annually through 2030; its total cost has been estimated at $2.5 trillion. Other programs — such as priority critical cybersecurity, 'executable surface ship programs' and what are termed 'Indo-Pacom construction projects' — will be less expensive than Iron Dome, but have yet to have their costs defined. Still other exempted programs with well-developed estimates will also consume a significant portion of the defense budget over the next several years. These include Virginia-class submarines, with a unit cost in excess of $7 billion; the Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, ranging from $750 million in FY 2026 to about $3 billion in FY 2030; the strategic nuclear modernization program, amounting to at least $18 billion annually; and Replicator and other dispensable drones, which, depending on the number purchased, could approach $1 billion. Given the decision to exempt major Navy and Air Force programs, it appears that Army programs, especially Army force levels, will be a major target for significant cuts. While Hegseth is unlikely to reduce military pay and benefits, their costs would drop commensurate with any reductions in military personnel. Civilian employee levels are certain to be another major target for reductions. The number of Defense Department civilians has risen since 2003 by 137,000, or nearly 20 percent, even though the U.S. is not involved in a major conflict. By far the biggest increase has been in the Defense Agencies, totaling over 80 percent. There appears to be no real justification for these increases. Finally, base operations, long considered to be a funding 'black hole' within the operations and maintenance accounts, could also face significant reductions. To achieve these cuts, however, requires an ability to identify how exactly funds for base operations are put to use. That has proved to be exceedingly difficult in past budget reduction attempts . While Army force levels, defense civilians and base operations are likely targets for budget reductions, the Pentagon has but a few days to identify these or other bill-payers for the so-called exempted programs, as well as the sources of the $50 billion or more in budget cuts that Hegseth is seeking. It is noteworthy that the Department of Defense did not list either aircraft carriers or the F-35 program as targets for reductions or even program termination. Until now, the only clearly identified reductions are in so-called 'woke' programs, and climate-change related efforts. Eliminating them will not bring the Pentagon even remotely close to its budget reduction target. To come anywhere close to Hegseth's target, the Pentagon bureaucracy will engage in yet another cut drill, with many promising programs falling on the cutting room floor while legacy activities survive yet again. Moreover, many of the administration's proposed reductions will have to face significant congressional opposition, even from otherwise supportive Republicans. There is a lengthy list of legacy programs that have survived well beyond their optimal service lives due to the jobs they created and sustained in members' districts. Bureaucrats working on these programs have a history of providing legislators with ammunition to sink any effort to kill their pet programs. As a result, even dovish members of Congress have consistently and successfully defended programs located in their district, regardless of expense or military suitability. Hegseth was able to overcome the challenges of Senate confirmation. That experience will be nothing compared to the congressional buzzsaw that is sure to materialize once he has actually specified which Pentagon programs he seeks to cut. He will not find it a pleasant experience. Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
L3Harris unveils Amorphous autonomy software to manage drone swarms
L3Harris on Monday unveiled a software platform, Amorphous, for controlling large swarms of uncrewed systems across multiple domains, allowing aerial drones, ships and other platforms to operate together seamlessly. The software is designed with an open architecture to be platform-agnostic and scalable. To date, the company has demonstrated the ability to connect multiple systems, but it envisions Amorphous eventually managing thousands of payloads — a key requirement for the U.S. Defense Department as it looks to better integrate uncrewed systems into operations. Jon Rambeau, president of integrated mission systems at L3Harris, told reporters in a briefing last week the company's vision is for Amorphous to serve as an orchestra conductor, helping operators command and control autonomous systems. 'One of the big problems that has yet to be solved is, how do you think about the control of, not 10, not 100, not even 1,000, but thousands of assets simultaneously,' Rambeau said. 'That's really not something that's possible to do with human control only.' While some concepts for autonomous command-and-control rely on a 'mothership,' a single platform serving as the brains of a fleet of uncrewed systems, L3Harris envisions Amorphous coordinating a 'leaderless swarm,' according to Toby Magsig, vice president and general manager of enterprise autonomous systems. Under this approach, rather than rely on a single platform to communicate an operator's command, the entire fleet of systems would share the message and deconflict on which platform would perform which parts of the mission. This alleviates some of the mission risk should the mothership lose its communication link or be shot down, Magsig said in the same briefing. Amorphous has already made its debut in prototypes the company is developing for various Pentagon programs, including Replicator, and has its roots in work the L3Harris has done for the Navy's Project Overmatch and Army Research Laboratory experimentation. For Replicator — the Pentagon's high-profile effort to field thousands of uncrewed systems by next August — L3Harris was selected in November alongside Anduril Industries and Swarm Aero to demonstrate the ability to coordinate hundreds or thousands of platforms through an effort called Autonomous Collaborative Teaming. Managed by the Defense Innovation Unit, the program is looking for software that can be upgraded iteratively and can run on any hardware system. Rambeau said the company recognizes the need for open architecture and has demonstrated Amorphous can integrate with a variety of platforms. He also noted that L3Harris worked with several smaller firms to support the software's user interface and autonomy algorithms. 'A truly open architecture with published interfaces that anybody can plug into is going to be a really critical element of success,' he said. 'That's one of the things that we put into this design.' Magsig declined to offer much detail on the Replicator demonstrations that Amorphous has supported, but said the software has been involved in a few events and 'there's many more to go.'
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Applied Intuition acquires AI software firm EpiSci
Software company Applied Intuition announced Thursday it acquired Silicon Valley autonomy firm EpiSci, whose technology has supported a slew of Pentagon programs aimed at integrating AI with military platforms. The move positions Applied, which has until now focused largely on dual-use autonomous technology for land systems, to expand its portfolio into other domains. 'We've done a lot of on-the-ground, land autonomy,' Applied's CEO Qasar Younis told Defense News. 'And we thought one area we could augment its portfolio is in other domains — in the air and on the sea ... and space as well.' EpiSci, founded in 2012, builds AI software for a number of defense applications, including surface warfare, maritime tracking, space-based missile tracking satellites and uncrewed aircraft. Last year, the Air Force used the company's software to stage the first-ever dogfights between an F-16 and an experimental fighter jet, the X-62A VISTA. US Air Force stages dogfights with AI-flown fighter jet Meanwhile, Applied has developed a suite of simulation, validation and data management software. The firm's technology is used by a range of industries — from automotive, trucking and agriculture to defense. In 2022, the Army and the Defense Innovation Unit selected the firm to provide a platform to develop and test autonomous software for the Robotic Combat Vehicle program. And last month, the Pentagon's Chief Digital and AI Office awarded the company a production contract worth up to $171 million for its software development and testing platform. Jason Brown, general manager of Applied's defense business, said the Defense Department's focus on uncrewed systems — specifically through the Replicator initiative to field thousands of low-cost expendable drones — is driving significant growth in the autonomy market. That growth means more opportunities not only for drone manufacturing firms, but for companies like Applied and EpiSci, that can equip both new and legacy systems with autonomy software. 'We want to be a part of that,' Brown said in the same interview with Younis. 'This is potentially retrofitting a lot of existing legacy systems. This is a big market that is about to explode. We're going to be able to take advantage of all of it.'
