Some Replicator tranche 2 systems have already been selected, DIU head says

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has selected a unknown number of systems to be part of Replicator’s second tranche, but will be keeping details quiet for the foreseeable future, according to the Defense Innovation Unit. 

Doug Beck, director of the DIU, said over 500 companies have expressed interest in being involved in the Replicator program through proposal responses. He added that out of these companies, the innovation hub has selected an undisclosed number of systems to partake in the program’s second tranche. 

“We now have two tranches of systems across domains,” Beck said at the National Defense Industrial Association conference Thursday. He added that DIU has “selected some systems already,” however “there’s other things that we are still kind of finalizing.” 

He added that 30 unique prime contractors have been selected across the hardware and software realms, and over 50 subcontractors have signed on. 

Though he didn’t disclose the names of the companies or the systems, Beck did offer some teases.

He said the range of companies selected include manufacturers of PRIME sUSV systems, a category he said stands for production-ready, inexpensive, maritime expeditionary small unmanned surface vehicles. He added that out of the other companies involved, one is a venture-backed startup, another is a growth stage software led “nontraditional” company and one is a “more established player.” 

It’s been nearly one year since the Replicator program — designed to counter China’s military capabilities by producing thousands of “attritable autonomous systems” across multiple domains by August 2025 — was announced. It has drawn significant attention from industry and Congress, including a healthy dose of skepticism about whether the effort has real weight behind it or is simply grouping together a number of items the department already planned to buy. 

With just one year until the program is scheduled to be deployed, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told the audience at the NDIA conference Wednesday that the program is on track. 

“Although we have lots more work to do, we are on track to meet Replicator’s original goal of enabling ‘multiple thousands in multiple domains in 18-24 months’. That is, by the end of August 2025. In so doing, Replicator is demonstrating from the top and across the enterprise how to deliver all kinds of capability at speed and scale,” Hicks said.