Defense Department Approves RDER-Tested Programs for Production

Heidi Shyu, the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, revealed on Saturday that the Deputy’s Management Action Group has approved three capabilities tested under the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, a program to accelerate the development of warfighting capabilities through prototyping.

Shyu, a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, said RDER’s priorities include asymmetric capabilities, joint command and control and resilient communications, DefenseScoop reported Saturday.

In conversation with DefenseScoop at the Reagan National Defense Forum, she explained that RDER involves “scenario-based experimentation with a focus on joint warfighting.”

Shyu said she would not disclose the green-lit technology to avoid leaking information to China, later clarifying that they are not related to the Pentagon’s Replicator effort.

According to Shyu, the approved capabilities are ready to move to production as long as funding is available. If, however, Congress decides to pass a year-long continuing resolution instead of a full-year budget, the RDER-tested projects are expected to stall.