Defense Advocacy to Build the Industrial Base for 21st Century Warfare

 
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Michael Robbins, Chief Advocacy Officer, at AUVSI Defense on September 14, 2023:   
 
At this event last year, noting the success of the use of unmanned systems by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, I noted that no longer is the traditional model of building exquisite platforms that costs many tens of millions or billions of dollars on a long lead time with a multi-year budgeting process, the only solution that works for all our current challenges.  
 
Rather, low cost, attritable, uncrewed platforms in the air, maritime, and ground domains are playing an important role in present-day warfare, and can play a much larger role in strategic deterrence in the future.  
 
I noted that Department of Defense (DoD) leaders – from the combatant commanders to the acquisition officers – need to rethink the tools in our warfighters toolboxes. And there must be an intense focus on how to get these tools into the field faster. 
 
A year later, how are we doing on that? 
 
The recent announcement by Deputy Defense Secretary Hicks on the Replicator initiative has given a much-needed jolt of energy to our industry, which as you know, has struggled to find a meaningful path towards integration at scale.  
 
While more details on Replicator are still forthcoming, AUVSI welcomes the plan by the DoD to rapidly integrate uncrewed and autonomous systems into the force in the many thousands in the next 18-24 months, and we look forward to working with Secretary Hicks and her team on the execution of the plan 
 
When implemented, this would be a real paradigm shift for the DoD, and will enhance the ability of Combatant Commands – particularly U.S. Indo-Pacific Command – to meet the demands of the mission. 
 
There has also been progress elsewhere – Task Force 59 in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and now 49 in the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) have demonstrated that there is a path towards rapid integration and operationalization of autonomous systems.  
 
We’ve had good engagement with the Office of Strategic Capital and see promise there for unlocking capital industry needs for investment in R&D and advanced manufacturing.  
 
The recent elevation of the director of DIU to report directly to the Secretary of Defense and embedding DIU personnel throughout the service branches are good first steps. Hiring a Navy Reserve Intel Officer with significant experience in industry to lead DIU was also an excellent move by Secretary Austin.  
 
And there is a growing recognition by many senior leaders – from Admiral Aquilina and his J2, to Air Force Secretary Kendall just on Monday – that the pace of integration needs to accelerate, however progress has been slower than we believe, and the war gaming has confirmed, is required 
 
Congress isn’t helping situation and is allowing partisan issues to upend the annual appropriations process and the confirmation of senior military leaders, harming our ability to invest in our national defense. 
 
So why the sense of urgency?  
 
Well beyond just the lessons we are learning daily from Ukraine, it is increasingly well understood that as a nation, the United States has lost the advantage in our industrial base to the PRC. Looking to history as a guide, this is not an indicator of future success 
 
China’s industrial and population advantages over the United States are similar to the advantages the United States held over Japan in the early 1940s. Admiral Yamamoto understood this, which is why he opposed the strike on Pearl Harbor he was nonetheless ordered to carry out on the Sleeping Giant. He understood that the industrial capacity of the United States – which he studied when he lived in the U.S. as a naval attaché – gave us an advantage that Japan could never overcome. 
 
Today, from small drones to highly capable warships, China is building at a pace that is not only leaving the United States behind, but is putting us at such a severe disadvantage that it requires immediate national attention and a whole-of-government effort to address.   
 
As multiple unclassified war games have demonstrated, our ability today to field the volume of platforms and weapons required to compete in the South China Sea is not there. And the industrial base to support the rapid arming is not there.  
 
This is true for drones as it for long range precision munitions and ship building and on and on throughout our defense industry. Truly, the scale of how far behind we are, is alarming. 
 
Ukraine has been a wakeup call … but it appears it hasn’t yet been loud enough yet to wake the sleeping giant.  
 
Accordingly, if we are going to have any chance of succeeding with our policy of deterrence – avoiding a situation where we are forced to decide whether to or whether not to defend democracy in the South China Sea – we need to move must faster with the integration of advanced technologies and the rebuilding of our industrial manufacturing capacity. 
 
And as Secretary Hicks recently noted, if we are pressed into a warfighting scenario, we will need a significant number of autonomous systems. She put it quite succinctly, noting “all-domain, attritable autonomous systems will help overcome the challenge of anti-access, area-denial systems. Our ADA2 to thwart their A2AD.” She’s got a clever speech writer.   
 
She went on: “Replicator will galvanize progress in the too-slow shift of U.S. military innovation to leverage platforms that are small, smart, cheap, and many.” We certainly like the sound of this, and look forward to working with the DoD on the execution of this plan. And quickly. We are 3 weeks into the 18-24 month timeline. 
 
AUVSI will have a lot more to say Replicator, and the rebuilding of our defense industrial base, which I will speak to more later today.  
 
And to help us position our members and our industry to play a leading role in shaping a strong future for our defense industry, AUVSI is leaning into our strategic pillar of Advocacy.  
 
To better focus our efforts and to bring together our members across domains – air, ground, maritime, and cyber – today we are launching our Defense Advocacy Committee, which will bring together diverse industry perspectives to focus on multi-domain challenges we face. And we will seize opportunities across the DoD, service branches, and Congress ranging from funding requests, NDAA policymaking, appropriations, acquisition reform, and ensuring the success of programs like Replicator, and rebuilding our defense industrial base with a focus on uncrewed and autonomous systems.  
 
I invite all our existing members, and those who are future members of AUVSI, to engage with us in our new Defense Advocacy Committee, as we are strongest when our members are with us at the table shaping the future. 
Defense

January 2026

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