The Pentagon’s new strategy focused on countering drones aims to respond to the future of warfare as autonomous unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are set to dominate the battlefield in the years ahead, but the defense industry faces a long road ahead to field new and emerging technologies to meet the U.S. ambition.

The Replicator 2 initiative looks to counter-UAS and leverage next-generation technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to defend against swarms of attack drones.

While the effort is still young and has time to evolve, industry players are just now exploring new technology and a vision for the new era has yet to fully emerge, including which technologies might shape the new drone defense landscape.

Set to lead this initiative are smaller defense tech firms that are testing a range of ways to counter these swarms, from lasers to portable guns and tracking systems.

Mary-Lou Smulders, chief marketing officer at Dedrone, said modern warfare “has been completely and irrevocably changed” by drones, underscoring the need to rise and meet the new threat.

“If we as the United States want to maintain aerospace superiority, I think we've got to be very much on our toes and very focused on getting it right — not just how much money you put into it, but equally important, how quickly you can execute and continue to innovate,” she said.

Global conflicts have already created something of a road map for the Pentagon as it looks toward the future.

In Ukraine, drones have dominated the battlefield, as both Russian and Ukrainian forces blast each other’s positions with explosive unmanned flying vehicles. AI drones that are just around the corner from full-scale deployment are expected to dramatically raise the threat level.

But the U.S. military has already struggled to defend against these types of drone threats in the Navy’s yearlong Red Sea fight against the Iranian-backed Houthis.

While the U.S. has shot down the majority of the rebel group’s rockets, the Navy is spending millions of dollars using one interceptor to shoot down a drone that costs just thousands of dollars to make.

The discrepancy in the Red Sea battle is heightening the need for new, cheaper and more effective solutions.

Dedrone is one of the leading companies in the counterdrone space, with a software system called DedroneTracker.AI that uses sensors to pull together data for analysis on drone threats. The software can also integrate with a jammer device called DedroneDefender.

Smulders said Dedrone, which has 120 public safety agencies and 15 federal agencies as customers, including the Pentagon, wants to move into the future with “bigger, better” radars and cameras, along with leveraging AI for more sophisticated algorithms for tracking drones.

“We don't actually have a picture of this yet. But it could happen where there's something coming in, but there's a helicopter also in the frame, and [the goal is] labeling and teaching the software these [different] cases through synthetic data,” she said.

The Biden administration in 2023 created the Replicator initiative, the first phase of which focuses on fielding thousands of autonomous drones within two years. The deadline is set for August of this year.

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