CSET’s Lauren Kahn shared her expert insights in an op-ed published in War on the Rocks. In her piece, she discusses the U.S. Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative, which aims to rapidly scale military capabilities in response to strategic competition with China. Replicator’s primary goal is to deploy thousands of attritable autonomous systems within the next 18 to 24 months, leveraging AI, robotics, and commercial technology.

Kahn highlights the shift from prioritizing costly, exquisite military systems to more cost-effective attritable systems that can be mass-produced and deployed flexibly. It emphasizes that Replicator’s success depends on overcoming various challenges, including production scalability and bureaucratic obstacles that have hindered previous innovation adoption efforts.

Read the full op-ed in War on the Rocks.