What's next for the Pentagon after the Replicator programme?
Although the Replicator initiative has made several accomplishments, there are still multiple gaps to plug across the US Department of Defense (DoD) and its services.
International Submarine Engineering (ISE) has announced that the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) has placed an order for an Explorer autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). According to the company, the vehicle will be used for marine search and recovery as well as survey operations.
ISE said that the JCG Explorer will also be supplied with a light-weight self-articulating ramp based launch and recovery system which will be installed on one of their ships. This will enable the Coast Guard to launch and recover their AUV in an elevated Sea State. The launch and recovery ramp system is built by Hawboldt Industries of Chester, Nova Scotia.
The Explorer family of AUVs was introduced in 2003 and follows previous ISE AUVs including ARCS and Theseus. Explorer is a modular vehicle that can be configured for commercial, scientific or military customers. It can carry a wide range of sensors and has endurance options ranging from 12 to 85 hours. It has developed a reputation as a reliable, stable and flexible sensor platform and in total, ISE AUVs have completed more than 120,000 kilometres of surveys.
Although the Replicator initiative has made several accomplishments, there are still multiple gaps to plug across the US Department of Defense (DoD) and its services.
Cummings Aerospace presented its turbojet-powered Hellhound loitering munition at SOF Week 2025, offering a man-portable solution aligned with the US Army’s LASSO requirements.
PDW has revealed its Attritable Multirotor First Person View drone at SOF Week 2025, offering special operations forces a low-cost, rapidly deployable platform for strike and ISR missions, inspired by battlefield lessons from Ukraine.
Teledyne FLIR is highlighting the emerging requirements for 'recoverable and re-usable' loitering munitions across the contemporary operating environment during this week’s SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida.
High-performance maritime industry player Kraken Technology Group, based in the UK, has used the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida this week to debut its K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessel (USV) to the North American market.
Red Cat and Palladyne AI recently conducted a cross-platform collaborative flight involving three diverse heterogeneous drones.