However, the billionaire investor stopped short of revealing any immediate plans to disrupt the Pentagon’s ongoing Replicator initiative, which includes efforts to field thousands of uncrewed systems by August 2025.

“If confirmed, I will work with the appropriate stakeholders to review the value of initiatives like Replicator,” Feinberg wrote in response to advance policy questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee ahead of his confirmation hearing Tuesday.

That answer came after lawmakers’ inquiry into whether “a separate process like Replicator [is] needed within DOD to address the most pressing investment areas,” or if the existing acquisition and management mechanisms are sufficient to confront contemporary urgent needs.

Feinberg noted that, in his view, Replicator “tailors the rapid acquisition pathway to ensure rapid acquisition and deployment for items urgently needed to react to an enemy threat or respond to significant and urgent safety situations.” 

“I believe the department must utilize all of the authorities available to acquire capabilities to meet the most pressing and urgent needs, to include the capabilities being accelerated through Replicator,” he wrote.

First unveiled by former deputy Pentagon chief Kathleen Hicks in August 2023, Replicator 1.0 was then billed as a key military technology and procurement modernization campaign designed to counter China’s massive, ongoing military buildup by incentivizing U.S. industrial production capacity and the military’s adoption of drones en masse — through replicable processes — at a much faster pace. DOD was largely secretive about the initiative since its inception.

DefenseScoop reported that the first two tranches of selections — dubbed Replicator 1.1 and 1.2 — encompassed a variety of maritime and aerial drones, and associated counter-drone assets selected for mass manufacturing. In September 2024, defense leadership announced that, building on that success and momentum, Replicator 2.0 would accelerate the high-volume production of technologies designed to detect and destroy enemy drones.

Since Trump was elected in November and tapped Feinberg to serve as the Pentagon’s No. 2, many questions have swirled regarding the new administration’s vision for Replicator and whether plans are in the works to transform or terminate it. 

Feinberg’s responses to lawmakers’ questions suggest his intent to continue to prioritize efforts to deliver capabilities to support the military’s most critical operational problems, at scale.

“My understanding is that the Replicator initiative has focused on two critical areas: Replicator-1 is focused on delivering thousands of all-domain attritable autonomous systems to [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command] to counter the pacing threat posed by the People’s Republic of China, and Replicator-2 is focusing on countering the threat posed by small unmanned aerial systems to our most critical installations and force concentrations. Both of these operational problems remain pressing challenges and, if confirmed, I will continue to ensure the department focuses on delivering innovative capabilities to warfighters in line with the secretary’s priorities of rebuilding our military and reestablishing deterrence,” he wrote.

The high-stakes initiative was not a major focus during Feinberg’s confirmation hearing. But in response to questions from Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., the nominee pledged to frequently brief and update Congress on the department’s plan for Replicator, and drones writ large.

“In regards to [threats from] swarming technology, Replicator’s a very important program,” Budd said.

At another point while testifying, Feinberg also emphasized that autonomous technologies and assets like those enabled by the pursuit will be vital to the U.S. military’s ability to deter foreign adversaries in the near term.

“Clearly, we need to develop autonomy — autonomy in significant numbers, with a centralized command, effectively ‘brain.’ And we have to make the right decision on whether we need to build a next-generation aircraft, or we can rely on autonomy. Of course, we’ve got to improve our shipbuilding. China is very strong there. Our nuclear capabilities are old, we have to upgrade them. And we have to develop hypersonics,” Feinberg told lawmakers.

A full Senate confirmation vote for Feinberg has not yet been scheduled.

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DIU is on the hunt for low-cost platforms that could go into production next year. The aim is to build 10 or more systems per month, which would be an annual production rate of 120 or more robo-boats.

“The Department of the Navy has an operational need for small Unmanned Surface Vehicle (sUSV) interceptors, capable of autonomously transiting hundreds of miles through contested waterspace, loitering in an assigned operating area while monitoring for maritime surface threats, and then sprinting to interdict a noncooperative, maneuvering vessel. Interceptors will need to operate in cohesive groups and execute complex autonomous behaviors that adapt to the dynamic, evasive movements of the pursued vessel,” according to the solicitation.

The Defense Department wants robotic systems that can sail 500-1,000 nautical miles in moderate sea states; haul a payload of 1,000 pounds using diesel fuel; loiter for “several days” while conserving sufficient fuel to return to base; and “sprint” at 35 knots or faster in low sea states.

Other primary focus areas include sense-and-avoid technology that can effectively operate in low-visibility conditions and in areas where global navigation satellite systems are denied; tech that enables maritime drones to autonomously shadow and intercept a vessel of interest; and “collaborative multi-agent autonomy solutions” that allow for the integration of third-party software and hardware.

Among other “highly desired” attributes for the robo-boats is the ability to carry and launch small unmanned aerial systems that could provide additional eyes to look for objects of interest.

To promote stealthiness, DIU is interested in uncrewed platforms that can “automatically adjust emissions control (EMCON) posture when in the vicinity of specific vessels and aircraft, or in specific geographic areas” and “search for, localize, shadow, and intercept a noncooperative, maneuvering vessel of interest using techniques and sensor modalities that minimize probability of detection,” per the solicitation.

For communications, the organization seeks systems that are resistant to radio frequency jamming and use a variety of pathways such as high-bandwidth commercial satcom, 5G and others.

It envisions machine-to-machine data links and mesh networks that enable “collaboration with proximate sUSVs and other unmanned systems, as well as for status reporting with a distant operations center or control station … with minimal track splitting or false positives,” according to the request for solutions.

The Pentagon is keen on using machine learning technologies that can recognize objects and assist with intelligence-gathering, data analysis, or targeting. The DIU solicitation noted that desired attributes for the small USVs include automated recognition tools “for classifying and identifying surface vessels of various types, to include recognition of hull shape, superstructure, masts, and hull markings such as letters and numbers.”

The department also wants robo-ships that can carry a variety “effectors,” per the solicitation. The term “effectors,” in U.S. military parlance, generally refers to weapon systems.

The Navy’s Task Force 59, which is under 5th Fleet, has been using commercial USVs and AI capabilities for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes in operational environments in the Middle East region.

The unit has also been testing the ability of maritime drones to employ weapons. During an exercise in October of last year, it used an unmanned surface vessel to launch loitering munitions against a target boat.

4th Fleet, which operates in Central and South America, has also been experimenting with these types of capabilities as part of its hybrid fleet exercises.

Through the new solicitation, DIU could facilitate a major ramp-up in the Navy’s employment of maritime drones and autonomous systems.

The innovation unit, which is headquartered in Silicon Valley, works to connect the Pentagon with nontraditional contractors and commercial technologies that have military applications. It also aims to move faster than traditional Defense Department acquisition processes, via what it calls a commercial solutions opening, to get companies on contract quickly and move forward with prototyping.

“The Department intends to swiftly prototype and demonstrate one or more sUSV interceptors, aligned with robust commercial capacity to manufacture and deliver these sUSVs at scale,” the solicitation states. “After Government reviews and evaluations are complete, the Government intends to recommend specific pairing arrangements between the selected sUSV interceptor solutions and the selected collaborative multi-agent autonomy solutions.”

Proposed solutions may be expected to appear on a test range as early as 30 days after award of a prototyping agreement, for performance assessments and demonstrations of sense-and-avoid capabilities and autonomous intercept, according to the solicitation.

A follow-on production contract or transaction may be issued by one or more organizations within the Defense Department without further industry competition, it noted.

Systems need to be ready to move into high-rate production beginning in spring 2025, per the solicitation.

Responses from industry are due Feb. 12.

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The project — called the Long-Range Attack Munition — was revealed Monday in the annual update to Force Design 2030, which is an initiative spearheaded by Commandant Gen. David Berger to pivot the Marines away from their post-9/11 emphasis on counterinsurgency land wars in the Middle East and instead focus on potential conflicts in the Indo-Pacific against advanced adversaries such as China.

“With the support of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, we will begin the Long-Range Attack Munition project to rapidly develop and field a low-cost, air launched family of loitering, swarming munitions,” the annual update stated.

Also sometimes referred to as kamikaze drones, loitering munitions are designed to fly around for extended periods of time until they identify a target and attack it by crashing into it. While the weapons are often intended for one-time use and suicide missions, they can also be equipped with sensors in order to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations. 

As it develops the new swarming and loitering munitions, the Marine Corps is approaching the effort from “an evolutionary and a revolutionary” perspective, Brig. Gen. Stephen Lightfoot, director of the the service’s capabilities development directorate, said during a call with reporters Friday to discuss the Force Design 2030 update ahead of its release.

The service plans to design the Long-Range Attack Munition so that it can be launched from attack helicopters, such as the AH-1 Cobra, he noted. 

The next-generation kamikaze drones will have a longer reach and be far better suited for Indo-Pacific operations than some of the munitions that are currently in the inventory, Lightfoot said. He noted that the Hellfire missiles currently fired from AH-1 attack helicopters only have ranges of up to 8 kilometers in many cases, which is not ideal for littoral environments.

“This Long-Range Attack Munition which we’re experimenting with now — and we would like to bring into the force within the next few years — that is a capability that brings hundreds of kilometers,” Lightfoot said. “And that allows us to be able to use a current platform to be able to do things that we never thought that it would be able to do.”

The Marine Corps is also interested in developing a ground-launched variant of the loitering munition so Marines can use them even when helicopters aren’t flying, he added. The service plans to develop a common launcher for the entire family of ground-based loitering munitions, according to the Force Design 2030 annual update.

“Aviation platforms as a whole are fantastic when they are airborne, but they’re not always airborne and they can’t always be airborne,” Lightfoot said. “And so we need to bring that Long-Range Attack Munition also to the ground side, so that it can be fired from the ground [and] so it’s ready 24/7.”

No later than Sept. 1, officials will “identify options to accelerate the procurement and training of organic precision fires – infantry (OPF-I) and organic precision fires – mounted (OPF-M) (loitering munitions),” per the Force Design 2030 update. “We are moving too slow in OPF.”

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The award will enable the completion of design modifications currently underway for the Coyote Block 3 drone, as the sea service pursues new intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike capabilities, according to the announcement.

“Specific activities include finalizing configurations and developing technical data packages, manufacturing test assets, testing for an enhanced payload air system, a new launch module, a fire control system and ancillary peculiar support equipment. Additionally, this effort is designed to conduct flight tests in support of developmental testing, and operational demonstrations,” per the release.

The Office of Naval Research is the contracting activity.

The award includes an 18-month base period and three option periods that would run concurrently. Work is expected to be completed by Dec. 25, 2024. 

ONR did not respond to DefenseScoop’s request for more information about their plans for the FAST initiative and the modified drone. Raytheon deferred to the Navy for comment.

However, the Defense Department previously announced in February 2021 that Raytheon had been awarded a $33 million contract for work on a Coyote Block 3 “autonomous strike” capability, including an effort to achieve operational launch capability from unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned underwater vessels (UUVs).

That work had an expected completion date of Feb. 26, 2024.

In April 2022, the Defense Department announced that the company was awarded a $10 million contract modification to design, build and integrate Coyote Block 3 launch tube assembly into a UUV; procure and deliver the air systems for UUV demonstration; and provide systems engineering, integration and test support for both “High Volume Long Range Precision Strike (HVLRPS) from USVs and Fires (HVLRPF).”

Raytheon was also tasked to provide field support personnel, test readiness, safety coordination and program management, and optional integration of government-furnished equipment for forward payloads and tests.

That work was expected to be completed by Nov. 28, 2023. 

The Block 3 is derived from the original Coyote loitering munition, or kamikaze drone. The original version can be “flown individually or netted together in swarms,” and it’s “adaptable for a variety of missions including surveillance, electronic warfare and strike,” according to a Raytheon product description.

“Derived from the expendable Coyote loitering munition, the Block 3 utilizes a non-kinetic warhead to neutralize enemy drones, reducing potential collateral damage. Unlike its expendable counterpart, the non-kinetic variant can be recovered, refurbished and reused without leaving the battlefield,” according to Raytheon.

The company has provided a ground-launched variant to the Army to be used as a counter-drone weapon.

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The following is a Useful Fiction product designed to visualize how new unmanned technologies, and especially their proliferation to a wide array of state and non-state actors, could lead to both new threats and complicate our understanding of fast-moving crisis scenarios.

The intelligence analyst put her head in her hands, resting bare elbows hard on the desk, while her fingers massaged her temples. Her portfolio was the Middle East, which had been seemingly put on the back burner amidst the missiles flying across the Taiwan Straits. And then, in the span of a morning, everything had changed. Now, she needed to send a memo to her supervisor, who, in turn, would be sending that memo on to the Deputy Director for National Intelligence, who, in turn, had to do an emergency briefing for members of Congress. 

A deep breath.

“OK, OK,” said the analyst, looking at her watch to confirm the time she had left. Donald Duck’s arms marked that she just had under 20 minutes to explain that perhaps a new front had or hadn’t just opened up in what was looking like a global conflagration.

The old school watch was both irreverent and necessary, given how all outside digital devices were prohibited inside the workspace. She took a fortifying swig of coffee from a navy blue mug, the logo of her college starting to fade from years’ worth of scrubs in the office kitchenette sink. It was lukewarm, but there was no time to freshen it up.

She began typing…

(TS//SI//REL FVEY) DETERMINING PROXY FORCE ATTRIBUTION OF DRONE SWARM ATTACKS ON HQ NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY-BAHRAIN

Run Date: 28 July 2025

(S//SI// REL) Based on current reporting, attacking elements targeting HQ NSA Bahrain have succeeded in breaching the facility’s security perimeter. At approximately 0050 ZULU 21 July, a flight of unmanned air systems began to assemble near the northern port area. Once the swarm reached approximately 100 UAS in number, it targeted the main gate and multiple points in the security fencing with persistent kinetic effects. The series of small explosions left major gaps, which were then exploited by multiple autonomous VBIEDs. They were engaged by the base security force and host nation law enforcement, but at least four of the vehicles were able to enter the facility. Following the model of the Denver and Edinburgh attacks, the driverless vehicles proceeded to target pedestrians and then smash into the entrances of the naval base’s buildings at high speed, including a fuel depot. Multiple explosions are confirmed at the facility.

On the monitor to the right of her main display, the analyst refreshed her feed, to see if any other reports had come in from agency partners. On the left, she had open a tracker of OSINT data. It displayed an aggregation of real-time social media feeds of video and still images trending in the region. It looked like a scrolling tapestry of shattered buildings. One feed had even already been able to provide a satellite image, showing there were five different pillars of smoke rising from the U.S. base. She edited back to change “multiple” to “at least five.”

(S//SI//REL FVEY) The attacking forces appear to have coordinated their attack with information operations to ensure maximum social media coverage. OSINT and SIGINT fusion reports indicate a subset of the drone swarm live-streamed their content to Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. The host sites have already moved to block the imagery, but a network of accounts and bots are pushing them across the network creating a viral narrative in both Arabic and English.

She took a pause from furiously typing and wiggled her fingers to stretch them out. She then looked down to see how much time Donald had left for her.

Normally she’d walk over to her colleagues just a few desks away, to pulse their ideas, as the give-and-take of a conversation would often surface something you wouldn’t think of on your own. But everybody was too busy to talk things through.

The analyst reconsidered what she really had to write here. What was the most important thing the leaders needed to know? She tried to put herself in their shoes.

They probably had access to all the same information that she was seeing online. What they cared about was “Who did this?” Unfortunately, it was not that clear. For all that it seemed like sci-fi still to the senior leaders, both the technology and the TTPs were just so common now.

(TS//SI// REL FVEY) Attribution and Origination

(TS//SI// REL FVEY) Attribution for the attacks remains unclear, in part due to the different national origins of the software and hardware used.

(TS//SI// REL FVEY) Based on flight control pattern and drone-to-drone guidance communications analysis by CRIMSON GLAZE, it is believed the UAS swarm is using a flight-control algorithm developed by a team at Skolkovo, the Russian AI incubator.

She scanned the SIGINT feeds further to see if anything out of the regional mobile communications traffic from currently targeted Russian and Chinese systems had any tells or giveaways. Something this audacious meant somebody was gloating somewhere. That was all too human, and the SIGINT might show who.

Nothing, however. Another way to think about it she realized, was who isn’t talking right now? But everyone knew now that going silent was just as much as a tell as waving an “I did it” flag outside your cave or headquarters building.

(TS//SI// REL FVEY) Use of this technology does not, however, determine attribution to any one threat actor. Past intelligence reports…

She made a note to attach a link to the prior report.

…indicate the flight-control algorithm developed at Skolkovo are widely available on the civilian market.

She stood out of her desk chair, both to stretch her back and try to get a new perspective. Down the hallway, what was playing on the TV mounted in the corner caught her eye. Permanently set to cable news, it showed a split screen of simultaneous convoys of SUVs darting away from the Capitol, while underneath text explained that the House and Senate leadership were at this moment racing in convoys of armored SUVs toward an undisclosed location, in light of the recent attack. That didn’t help her stress. All it meant is that she could see the audience of her yet uncompleted memo racing to wherever they would read it.

She sat back down.

12 minutes. Keep writing.

Just as she started to type, there was a pop-up notice of fresh information coming in via a U.S. Naval Intelligence analyst, who had the Iran portfolio. She read it as rapidly as she could. The time was worth it; this was exactly what she needed.

(TS//SI// REL FVEY) OSINT imagery shows that at least part of the UAS swarm featured small drone designs of Iranian origin. Current users of the technology include a mix of state actors, including Iran (the Iranian Revolutionary Guard/Quds Force, the Iranian military) and multiple arms sales recipients: Ethiopia, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, and Venezuela. Iran has also provided the system to multiple non-state actors, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi (Ansar Allah), multiple groups in Iraq, including Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al Haq, the Badr organization, and Kataib Sayyad al Shuhada. Each of the state recipients have also provided systems to their own non-state proxies; for example, the Wagner Group has also utilized the system in its operations in both Ukraine and Mali.

(TS//SI// REL FVEY) Local extremist groups in Bahrain, such as Saraya al Ashtar, have not previously operated the system; however, they have trained with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and received other types of weapons through smuggling networks.

(TS//SI// REL FVEY) A complicating factor is that the small size of the systems has led to proliferation beyond these groups. Other users include even Sunni groups that Iran opposes, likely through theft and resale by individual members to illicit arms markets.

Now for the other part of the attack. This made the attribution even more difficult.

(TS//SI// REL FVEY) OSINT imagery shows the VBIED systems to be of civilian design; notable to the ongoing conflict in the Pacific, they are manufactured in China, with a software support architecture linking back to a state-linked enterprise. However, they are a common make available for sale in multiple countries.

She checked her watch again.

Three more minutes remaining to wrap up the memo and email it out. What conclusions could she add? Was there any “low confidence” assessment she could at least offer? The end users would certainly want that, but it could very well end up being a false lead, which, even worse, could send policymakers down the wrong pathway.

The analyst cursed to herself as she considered how much information was available at her fingertips, but how little they truly understood.

P.W. Singer is Co-Founder and Principal at Useful Fiction LLC, a firm that specializes in creating explanatory visions for clients that range from NATO to Fortune 500 companies. He is also a Senior Fellow at New America. August Cole is Co-Founder and Principal at Useful Fiction LLC and a fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Creativity at Marine Corps University. The two are the co-authors of the books Ghost Fleet and Burn-In. 

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The new legislation, released Thursday, recommends $220 million for Army procurement of counter-small unmanned aerial system (C-sUAS) technology, about 33 percent less than the $326 million the service requested.

The Army is the Defense Department’s executive agency for acquiring C-sUAS capabilities.

In their report accompanying the bill, lawmakers cited a “lack of acquisition strategy” as justification for the cut.

The same day the legislation was released, Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, warned about the growing threat posed by small drones and the need for technologies to defeat them.

The Defense Department has been pursuing a variety of counter-UAS capabilities.

“We have a potpourri of these things, and some work better than others. This is not an easy thing to do to counter these [UAS], because they change and evolve so rapidly,” Townsend told the Defense Writers Group Thursday.

Last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee released the text of its version of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which calls for the Pentagon to come up with a new strategy for fielding systems capable of defeating swarms of enemy drones that U.S. troops may face on future battlefields.

The House and Senate must reconcile their versions of their defense appropriations and authorization bills before they can be enacted. It remains to be seen what provisions and funding levels the final versions of the legislation will include.

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The text of the legislation, released last week, includes a number of provisions aimed at addressing the emerging threat. While the Department of Defense has already set up a Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aerial Systems Office (JCO) — lawmakers want the Pentagon to do more to improve the military’s ability to defend against large numbers of drones conducting coordinated attacks against U.S. assets.

“The proliferation of unmanned aerial systems and the ability to operate them in swarms poses a significant threat to the Joint Force. The committee applauds the Department of Defense’s focus on rapid development and fielding of counter-UAS capabilities, but seeks to accelerate fielding of capabilities that could counter UAS swarms,” the SASC said in its report on the authorization bill.

The bill would direct the secretary of defense to develop and implement a new strategy to field systems to address the threat, to include the creation of a comprehensive definition of ‘‘unmanned aerial system swarm’’ and a plan to establish and incorporate requirements for development, testing, and fielding of counter-swarm capabilities.

The legislation would require the Pentagon leadership to conduct an assessment of the threats posed by drone swarms to DOD installations and deployed military forces; an analysis of the use or potential use of swarms by adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and non-state actors; and an analysis of enabling technologies such as autonomy and machine learning.

It would also mandate a review of current fielded systems and whether they effectively counter a wide range of potential drone swarm threats; an overview of DOD development efforts and field tests of technologies that offer “scalable, modular, and rapidly deployable” C-UAS tools; and a plan to acquire and field adequate “organic capabilities” to counter drone swarms in defense of U.S. military forces, assets and infrastructure across land, air and maritime domains.

Additionally, it would direct the Pentagon to provide an estimate of the resources that would be required for the Army, Navy and Air Force to implement the plan.

The bill includes a deadline of no later than 270 days after the enactment of the legislation for the secretary of defense to submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the findings of the Pentagon’s analysis and the strategy to address the threat.

Lawmakers highlighted the potential of directed energy weapons to defend against large numbers of drones. The Pentagon has been testing a variety of these types of systems in recent months — although not always against the large numbers of UAS that some policymakers and analysts expect the U.S. military could face in the future.

“The committee supports the current efforts of the military services to develop an array of high-powered laser and microwave directed energy weapons for land, sea, and air applications. By achieving higher power levels, near continuous shot availability, and low downtime for recharge or heat dissipation, these systems aim to effectively defeat hardened and swarming threats,” according to the SASC bill.

“The committee encourages the military services to incorporate components from these newly demonstrated technologies into ongoing directed energy research and development to facilitate deeper magazine and higher power levels with reduced size and weight,” it added.

Notably, the legislation would authorize a $9.8 million boost in R&D funding for the design of “high-powered amplifiers and innovative signal conditioning circuits” that could aid radar detection and the use of directed energy systems for defeating drones.

“The committee is aware that improved long-distance radar detections and swarm counter-unmanned systems (c-UxS) are both critical capabilities for the Department of Defense. The committee is also aware that research measurements for transmitted long-distance power density of phased arrays are often challenging,” the bill noted.

When it comes to directed energy, lawmakers are “concerned that demonstrated high duty cycle technologies with significant size, weight, power, and cost effectiveness are underutilized in the scope of current developments, with services settling for more limited shot time, power level, and mobility,” the bill said.

By March 1, 2023, the legislation would direct the secretary of defense to provide the congressional defense committees a briefing on “how recently demonstrated capabilities at the 100kW level and above compare with the technologies currently being developed and evaluated by the military services and how incorporation into current directed energy programs will impact critical factors, including cost, schedule, size, weight, power, operationally relevant testing, and mission flexibility. The briefing shall also describe existing technological gaps that may prevent integration of more capable subsystems.”

Meanwhile, members of the House Armed Services Committee are also sounding the alarm about the threat posed by enemy drone swarms.

“The threat posed by swarming sUAS grows alongside the need to improve system dependability and defensive networking capabilities,” the HASC said in its report on its version of the NDAA, noting that high-powered microwaves (HPM) could help address the problem.

“The committee encourages the Army to ensure full consideration of HPM systems as part of a layered defense for protection of fixed and semi-fixed sites. The committee further encourages the Army to include requirements for scalability and modularity in development of such systems,” the report said. The Army is the executive agency for the Pentagon’s joint counter-small UAS efforts.

The legislation would direct the secretary of the Army to provide a briefing to the HASC no later than Feb. 1, 2023, on a strategy to develop and test “scalable, modular High Power Microwave systems that can be integrated into the Army’s air defense battle command system, as well as detect, track, identify, engage, and defeat sUAS swarms. The briefing should also include plans, if any, to produce and field this capability to equip forward deployed or expeditionary units.”

The House and Senate versions of the NDAA must be reconciled in committee before the annual defense authorization bill can be passed by Congress and signed into law by the president. The House has already passed its version of the NDAA, but the full Senate has not yet voted on its version. It’s not yet clear which counter-drone swarm provisions will be included in the final version of the fiscal 2023 legislation.

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