The Pentagon has proposed the "Copier" drone program, which is intended to deal with the combat platform superiority of the squadron. But it was later found that this plan is not to purchase unmanned combat platforms on a large scale, but to establish a decision-making mechanism for the rapid procurement of drone combat platforms.
However, the efforts of the United States** in this regard are very confusing and confusing, and do not seem to explain exactly how the plan will be carried out.
Recently, there was a meeting between nine executives from tech companies and senior U.S. military executives, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. One tech executive said: "It's too messy, it doesn't work, it has nothing to do with money." Ken Calvert, chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, claimed that the only way for this plan to work is for Congress to provide more than a year of flexible funding.
This is how tech companies dare to plan and invest for the long term. But for some new companies, there are still significant risks. The simple reason is that if there are no orders in the first place, these companies cannot promise venture capitalists that they will be rewarded. "If we don't have an order, we're not going to build a $100 million factory," one executive said. ”
Technology leaders in attendance believed that orders with clear delivery schedules were critical to the success of the Replicator program and were arguably "top priorities." And the Pentagon said: "Without the right product, we can't support you in getting the money for the planned purchase." It's simply a dead knot.
The second knot is still the issue of money. Although the Pentagon said that it does not need Congress to approve new resources for the time being, but the funds used to buy drones will come from"If they say they don't need any new money, will they pry money away from the budget for critical ammunition?," US congressman Gallagher, who attended the meeting, claimedIs this something we should emulate?”
"We don't need those small parts, we need mass production of long-range anti-ship missiles and things like that," Gallagher said in the interview. The United States** claims that we are five to seven years behind our almost peer adversary in a key kinetic technology from a military hardware perspective, which is unprecedented in history. Here, of course, we are talking about China.
Therefore, the American "replicator" program is not working at all now, first, there is no funding**, second, there are no clear orders, and third, not all enterprises are interested in investing in advance until there are no orders. And without the right product, even if the Pentagon has money, it will not be able to buy the right product, which can be said to be very difficult.