The US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has launched Project GI, a new initiative aimed at accelerating the deployment of uncrewed systems (UxS) to fulfil immediate operational needs of today’s military forces.
This initiative represents a streamlined approach designed to expedite the process of discovering, evaluating, refining, and ultimately incorporating “ready now” uncrewed technologies on a large scale.
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The focus of this project is primarily on uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and their associated equipment.
DIU director Doug Beck said: “Today, warfighters lack the uncrewed systems needed to train for combat and prevail if called upon to use them. DIU is laser focused on getting best-of-breed technology in the hands of the warfighter today and scaling it for training, adoption, and readiness.
“Our team continues to partner with military operators for hands on testing, evaluation, and feedback. Doing this at speed will in turn help catalyse the necessary scaling and readiness through major acquisition and training efforts across the Services that will deliver strategic impact – and will simultaneously support the flywheel of American private sector dynamism in delivering against that strategic need.”
Project GI will build on existing acquisition programmes by integrating feedback from end-users and shortening traditionally long delivery schedules.
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By GlobalDataThe initiative will leverage high technical readiness level solutions from the small and medium uncrewed system industry, prioritising platforms that are readily adaptable to military requirements.
Submissions for Project GI will be accepted until 31 December 2025.
A substantial prize pool, totalling up to $20m, is set to be distributed across three design reference missions (DRM) namely, FPV Effects, Kill Chain and Emerging problem set.
FPV Effects, the first DRM, addresses the operational need for deploying kinetic effects in environments where access is restricted or denied.
The second DRM seeks to expedite the kill chain process for small, agile units operating in contested and denied areas.
Details regarding the third DRM are forthcoming and will be published as part of the project’s ongoing development efforts.
According to DIU, proposals should include mature, mission-ready capabilities that can undergo live evaluations within three months of this solicitation’s issue date.
The DIU plans to conduct a series of evaluations with each “iteration” targeting a distinct DRM. These iterations will consider the particular mission context, operational constraints, and desired attributes relevant to each DRM.
To facilitate this process, each iteration will adhere to a three-phase competitive framework.
In December 2024, DIU deputy director Aditi Kumar confirmed that the department is on schedule with its plan to deploy a vast array of autonomous systems across various combat arenas as part of the Replicator 1 initiative.
