The Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks’s upcoming major project will concentrate on largely disposable, quickly produced unmanned devices as part of its technical competition with China. In 18 to 20 months, “Replicator,” a program developed by the DoD, should be operationally ready.

The Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks’s upcoming major project as part of its technical competition with China (Photo: West Observer)

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks will Develop Unmanned Aircraft

The program will remain in the spotlight because it will be directly overseen by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks.

At a packed NDIA emerging technologies for defense conference on Monday, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told the audience, “We’re going to create a new state of the art, just like America has done before, leveraging attributable autonomous systems in all domains, which are less expensive, but fewer people in danger, and can be changed, updated, or improved with significantly shorter lead times.”

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said the Pentagon will collaborate with combatant commands (COCOMS) to establish priorities but did not provide further details on the exact unmanned technologies the effort will employ.

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Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks Competes with China

According to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, Replicator is designed to counteract China’s major advantages, which include its vast population and its extensive stockpile of ships, missiles, and other weaponry. A significant accumulation of quick-to-produce, low-cost systems will be the DoD’s answer.

Replicator, according to the  Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, is intended to counteract China’s major advantages, including its sizable population and its vast stockpile of ships, missiles, and other weapons. In response, the DoD will rapidly increase its stock of less expensive systems.

Moreover, to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks , “Replicator will catalyze progress in the slow shift of military innovation to leverage small, smart, cheap, and many platforms.”

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