Defense officials consistently tout the Replicator initiative — an ambitious effort to “swarm” thousands of attritable, inexpensive drones at a break-neck pace to counter China — as a great success.
DoD Secretary Pete Hegseth testified in June that the initiative had “made enormous strides towards delivering and fielding multiple thousands of unmanned systems across multiple domains,” with “thousands more planned” through the FY 2026 defense budget. A defense official told DefenseScoop in late August the Pentagon was ensuring a “successful transition” or Replicator capabilities to end-state users. And last August, then Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who kicked off the initiative in 2023, boasted it was on track for its production goals.
Despite officials’…more
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