2 months ago
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(NewsNation) — The Pentagon's Department of Government Efficiency, the portion starring caller defence modernization efforts, is present taking complaint of overhauling the U.S. Army's drone plan, Reuters archetypal reported.
The determination follows the stalled Replicator Initiative, a department-wide effort to get and tract thousands of autonomous drones by August of this year. So far, the Department of Defense has not released an update connected that program's progress.
In September, a Pentagon authoritative said Replicator capabilities were being "transitioned to the due extremity authorities users," according to DefenseScoop.
What's caller with DOGE's plan?
The program is meant to beryllium faster due to the fact that the erstwhile mentation moved excessively slowly, according to Pentagon officials.
The Replicator Initiative was meant to tract thousands of autonomous low-cost drones by precocious 2025.
Now DOGE is centralizing the project, aiming to acquisition astir 30,000 U.S.-made drones implicit the adjacent fewer months to drawback up with China, Russia and Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the section has the work to equip troops with the champion imaginable tools to bash the job.
"Our occupation successful the Pentagon is to enactment tirelessly to get you what you need," Hegseth said
Analysts pass US drone tech is falling behind
Experts person said some China and Russia are producing drones astatine a monolithic scale, portion Ukraine is investigating caller battlefield tactics daily.
If DOGE’s caller program lags, analysts warn, the U.S. risks losing its technological edge.
"You conscionable can't beryllium firing hundreds oregon adjacent thousands of million-dollar oregon half-a-million-dollar missiles astatine these drones that mostly outgo astir $50,000 each," said Robert Tollast, a probe chap astatine the Royal United Services Institute. "The situation is to get the technologies — inexpensive intercepted drones — get the costs down, possibly lasers. We person the technology, we conscionable haven't scaled it up yet."
Pentagon officials said the archetypal procurement figures volition beryllium released aboriginal this month, providing the archetypal existent trial of whether DOGE tin determination faster than its predecessor.
DOGE, primitively spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, has chopped billions of dollars from authorities programs, including galore astatine the Pentagon, since Trump began his 2nd term. The drone effort, a caller task for the unit, is partially aimed astatine addressing the challenges of sourcing U.S.-made drone platforms. Most U.S.-made drones trust on components made successful China.
