Autonomous Weapons: Procurement
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the full scope is of Project Replicator 2.
Answered by Luke Pollard
REPLICATOR 2 is a US Department of War initiative delivered through the US Defense Innovation Unit (US DIU) to Counter threats from Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS). Under this initiative UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) has entered into a joint project with the US DIU to rapidly develop Low Collateral Defeat (LCD) solutions to counter small-Unmanned Aerial Systems (CsUAS) within the US or UK homeland.
The project is being run by the US DIU utilising their Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) process. Phase 1 took place in May 2025, and saw over 200 US and UK companies apply to the Area of Interest issued by the USDIU. Following a period of evaluation, which included UK participation, 18 potential solutions were down-selected to present their solutions to a joint US-UK evaluation board. Upon completion of this board in September 2025, eight companies, including two UK options, were selected for Phase 2 – Prototyping. Following this, any successful protypes, will be considered for procurement by UK and US transition partners.
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