The Pentagon is terminating funding for its rapid experimentation and prototyping initiative in fiscal year 2026, transitioning the program's key elements to the military services, according to recently released budget documents. The Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) program “was eliminated as part of the budget to streamline defense innovation redundancy, and optimize resource allocation toward more impactful modernization initiatives,” according to a department-wide budget justification book for FY-26 . The Pentagon's research and engineering office, which established the program, will...
