The Defense Innovation Unit today announced contract awards to software developers supporting the Replicator initiative, highlighting their roles in advancing autonomy solutions for all-domain, attritable drones.
“We believe that best in breed commercial software solutions can significantly enhance [Defense Department] modernization efforts,” Doug Beck, director of DIU, said in a statement.
“Many leading AI and autonomy firms are outside of our traditional defense industrial base,” he continued, “and DIU is working actively with partners across the department to bring the very best capabilities from the U.S. tech sector to bear in support of our most critical warfighter needs.”
For Opportunistic, Resilient & Innovative Expeditionary Network Topology, or ORIENT -- to improve the resilience of command and control (C2) and all-domain, attritable, autonomous systems -- DIU awarded prototype contracts to Viasat, Aalyria, Higher Ground, and IoT/AI.
DIU said 119 companies submitted 130 solution proposals for ORIENT.
For Autonomous Collaborative Teaming, or ACT -- to automate the coordination of swarms of hundreds or thousands of uncrewed drones across multiple domains -- DIU awarded prototype contracts to Swarm Aero, Anduril Industries, and L3Harris Technologies.
DIU said 132 companies submitted 165 proposals for ACT.
The unit did not disclose award amounts.
“In a continuation of the accelerated pace of the Replicator initiative, DIU led this team to move from solicitation to award in just five months,” DIU said.
Together, ORIENT and ACT solutions “will enable so-called ‘heterogeneous collaboration’ between different Replicator systems fielded in the next year and lay the foundation for the department’s broader push towards collaborative autonomy,” DIU said.
The Pentagon has been less cagey about releasing information about the classified Replicator initiative, last week revealing the names and vendors of specific systems for the program’s second “tranche.”
“Replicator is cutting across silos and accelerating the pace of development for autonomous systems,” Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Christopher Grady said in the DIU statement. “This effort is serving as a pathfinder, and we are learning lessons about processes and technology that will apply to future problems. This will allow us to continue to expand the use of uncrewed systems.”