US Pentagon's Replicator program falls short of goals to deploy AI weapons, WSJ reports
Reuters
Fri, September 26, 2025 at 10:24 p.m. EDT
(Reuters) -The U.S. Pentagon's Replicator program, which aimed to field thousands of drones by August, has fallen short of its goals and faced implementation challenges, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
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My nephew has been working in software support for one of the contractors, not the actual development but configuration management. Both the US and China are having difficulties with their sea-based drone swarm development.
Software failures have significantly hampered the Pentagon's Replicator program, a 2023 initiative intended to field thousands of low-cost, autonomous air, land, and sea systems by August 2025.
The failures have been part of a wider set of technical and organizational setbacks that have caused the program to fall short of its ambitious delivery goals. In response, the program is being moved under the Special Operations Command to a new unit called the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG).
Specific software failures and issues
Recent field exercises revealed critical problems with the autonomous systems' software:
- Failed target identification: Software on several unmanned surface boats did not correctly identify targets or failed to identify objects entirely.
- System malfunction and communication failures: During a summer 2025 trial off the coast of California, the Navy's autonomous boats experienced multiple failures. One vessel went adrift due to a steering malfunction, and a different incident involved two unmanned boats colliding. Investigations pointed to breakdowns in communication between the vehicles' onboard systems and the external control software.
- Vulnerability to jamming: A Pentagon analysis found that many of the autonomous systems would be vulnerable to jamming if GPS and communications were disrupted, a likely scenario in a conflict with a major adversary.
- Inability to coordinate multiple drones: The program has struggled to develop software that can integrate and coordinate fleets of autonomous vehicles from different manufacturers to work together on a single mission.
Contributing factors
Several issues contributed to the software problems and the program's slow progress:
- Immature technology: Some of the systems chosen for the initiative were still in the development or conceptual stage at the time of their selection.
- Lack of rigorous testing: Some officials noted that the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) purchased platforms and software without sufficient testing and chose older technologies for some products.
- Organizational and acquisition issues:
- The overall approach has been described as "disorganized and confusing" by some industry partners.
- The project highlights the Defense Department's historical difficulty in moving technology from prototype to field deployment.
Program adjustments
In response to the technical hurdles and delays, the Pentagon is restructuring the program and shifting its focus:
- Transfer to DAWG: The Replicator initiative is being moved to the newly created Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG) under Special Operations Command.
- Refocused mission: The new team is tasked with accelerating the effort and focusing on the most promising weapons systems.
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