Pentagon Plans Replicator Program to Boost U.S. Drone Manufacturing, Counter China Dominance
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Pentagon planning "Replicator" program to build thousands of small, cheap drones to counter China's dominance of drone market and reduce reliance on Chinese imports
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War in Ukraine demonstrated value of expendable drone swarms for reconnaissance and attacking targets
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Goal is to spur U.S. manufacturing of small drones and develop supply chain not reliant on China due to rivalry
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Military sees shift to larger quantities of lower-cost autonomous drones rather than small number of expensive platforms
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U.S. drone makers hoping to compete but unlikely to match China's prices without similar scale and investments