Pentagon readies tech summit for buildup of autonomous systems to counter China

The Pentagon is ramping up plans to hold a major summit in early 2024 highlighting its new “Replicator” initiative aimed at integrating artificial intelligence into major weapons systems.

The Defense Innovation Unit, a Pentagon group charged with accelerating the military’s adoption of emerging technologies, said the upcoming summit in the Washington area will give businesses more details about the tech needs of American war fighters.

DIU Director Doug Beck said earlier this month that Replicator is “about delivering concrete operational effects against real strategic priorities and doing so in a way that breaks down systemic barriers.”

“It’s about delivery, real impact, and doing it fast on a critical need, leveraging autonomous systems, attributable autonomous systems, doing so at scale,” Mr. Beck said during a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.

Mr. Beck, who left Apple in April for the Department of Defense, acknowledged there is plenty of confusion spreading about the Replicator program.

Questions and criticism about the potential transformation of America’s military-industrial complex have flooded Capitol Hill in recent months.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, Wisconsin Republican, chastised the Department of Defense at an October hearing for providing little information on Replicator to his House Armed Services Committee colleagues, private industry and the American people.

The lawmaker leading a panel with oversight of military AI programs said he was eager to see the Pentagon succeed but had unanswered questions including how to ensure its success, whether it was feasible, and whether the technology effectively counters China.

Since September, Mr. Beck has worked alongside Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H. Hicks and Navy Adm. Christopher W. Grady to evaluate autonomous systems and capabilities across the armed services to identify war fighter needs and the issues to address first, according to DIU.

“The Defense Department has already demonstrated that, with concerted senior-level focus, the right technologies can make it across the various valleys of death, from capability development all the way through fielding to the warfighter,” Ms. Hicks said in a November statement.

Pressured by reporters about the cost of Replicator at a November press conference, Ms. Hicks said, “Cost is the wrong way to think about it.

“The reality is Replicator is removing kinks in the hose of the system that is innovation in DOD,” Ms. Hicks said. “There are a multitude of programs that already exist in the department that need help to get from where they are to delivery at scale, and that is where Replicator is focused.”

Replicator’s critics doubt the Pentagon will deliver the goods within a two-year timeline. Hudson Institute senior fellow Bryan Clark told Mr. Gallagher’s committee in October that the production capacity of the Pentagon and its commercial partners is a problem.

“There is little evidence the DOD and its industry partners can field thousands of operationally relevant uncrewed systems in the next two years,” Mr. Clark said in written testimony. “The Pentagon’s anemic procurement of uncrewed systems has generally discouraged industry from ramping up its production capacity.”

Mr. Beck said in December that the Pentagon is up to the task and it remains a “whole of department effort.”

“We will meet the timeline of 18 to 24 months of putting multiple thousands of systems in place in order to meet the needs, and we will do that in a way that delivers changes to the way that we work in order to get there,” Mr. Beck said at the Reagan Forum.

Skeptics of the Replicator program such as Mr. Clark and Mr. Gallagher are hopeful that it will triumph. Mr. Gallagher said the consequences of failure are catastrophic.

“I want to be clear: I want this to work,” Mr. Gallagher said at the October hearing. “I think we need to be moving heaven and earth to enhance near-term deterrence across the Taiwan Strait otherwise we may stumble into a war that would make the current conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe look small in comparison.”

• Guy Taylor contributed to this story.