Defense Innovation Unit to Convene Industry for Replicator Program in Early 2025

The Department of Defense’s technology office intends to hold a technology summit in early 2025 to communicate with industry about the Replicator program before the first unmanned systems become ready to field.

The initiative’s first tranche of drones is scheduled for deployment between February and August 2025, Breaking Defense reported.

Doug Beck, director of the Defense Innovation Unit, said his organization is sourcing the initial batch from frequent business partners. The drones will be verified and ready to scale, he added.

According to Beck, DIU will on-ramp new partners in subsequent tranches to fill gaps in the current portfolio.

Beck told reporters that DIU is studying the Ukraine conflict and other current events to understand how Replicator can meet the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command‘s strategic needs.

Aditi Kumar, DIU’s deputy director for strategy, policy and national security partnerships, said the upcoming summit is meant to identify critical capabilities and set up “common architecture pieces and other enabling pieces” for the program.

Through Replicator, the DOD plans to deploy thousands of “attritable” unmanned systems to match China’s growing military capability.