WSJ: US faces challenges in deploying AI-based weapons

The Pentagon’s plan to deploy thousands of advanced drones in preparation for a potential conflict with China has encountered significant obstacles, with the US military still struggling to define how some of these systems would be used in practice, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources.

Launched two years ago, the initiative aimed to rapidly procure affordable autonomous weapons to counter China’s growing military capabilities. However, concerns over slow progress have prompted the transfer of the programme to a new organisational structure.

The Replicator programme, a flagship Pentagon project under the Biden administration, was intended to deliver thousands of ground, sea, and air systems equipped with artificial intelligence by August 2025. Then-Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks introduced the programme in 2023, promising technology that would be “small, smart and cheap.”

Hicks requested $1 billion over two years, though some lawmakers argued that several billion more would be necessary to ensure the programme’s success.

Sources familiar with the matter said that some Replicator systems proved unreliable or were too expensive and slow to produce to meet the required quantities. The Pentagon also faced difficulties developing software capable of effectively managing large numbers of drones from different manufacturers, which need to operate in concert to detect and potentially engage targets — a critical goal of the Replicator programme.

To address these challenges, Pentagon leadership transferred the Replicator programme to a new unit under the Special Operations Forces, the Defence Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG). The move aims to accelerate development and focus on the most practical and effective weapon designs.

By Tamilla Hasanova