Accelerate, Change or Lose: The Replicator Initiative and Transforming the Pentagon
In August of this year, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announced the “Replicator Initiative,” a new initiative to field thousands of less costly autonomous weapon systems over the next 18-24 months. Aimed directly at offsetting China’s growing advantages in the Pacific, Replicator is part of a growing concern that, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Charles Q. Brown said while Chief of the Air Force, the Pentagon must "Accelerate, change or lose." But is the defense industry capable of delivering on that promise? With new defense systems taking sometimes a decade or more to reach the battlefield, what is needed to accelerate the Pentagon's adoption of new technology? On this edition of the RealClear Defense podcast "Hot Wash," host John Sorensen speaks with: Mike Brown who served as the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit at the Department of Defense. He also led the DoD-sponsored investment group, National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) to fund dual-use technology companies. Prior to working in government, Brown served as the CEO of Symantec, Quantum, and Chairman of EqualLogic. He is currently a partner at the dual-use venture capital firm, Shield Capital and a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Retired Rear Admiral Lorin Selby, who until this year was the Navy’s Chief of Naval Research. He also served as a submarine officer, a nuclear engineer, and as Deputy Director in the Navy Office of Legislative Affairs for the House of Representatives. And Steve Blank, adjunct professor at Stanford and a co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. He is an entrepreneur and founder of multiple startups in Silicon Valley, the author of “The Four Steps to the Epiphany” and credited with launching the Lean Startup movement. He is the author of “The Startup Owner’s Manual.”