DARPA’s Rapid Experimental Missionized Autonomy (REMA) program is propelling the frontier of drone autonomy. The goal is to equip unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with the resilience to execute missions autonomously even without operator connection.
Dr. Lael Rudd, REMA program manager, underscores the program’s swift pace, stating, “REMA is the demonstrator for rapid ideation and tech development.”
The collaborative effort among five contracted performers, including Anduril and RTX for the drone-autonomy adapter interface and Leidos, Northrop Grumman, and SoarTech for the mission-specific autonomy software, highlights a conglomerate approach to create universal solutions adaptable across diverse drone platforms.
Drones Become Commonplace
Over the last several years, drones have become commonplace in every aspect of the battlefield. From terrain reconnaissance, to underwater search-and-rescue, and beyond; drones are becoming not only a tool but a weapon of choice.
Even the U.S. Army, in 2022, started fielding RQ-28A drones with the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, GA. From Russian Drone strikes to the recent U.S. troops killed in a drone strike in Jordan, the battlefield is quickly becoming autonomous.
In September 2023, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks unveiled the “Replicator Initiative”; the latest effort to overcome the production valley of death, beginning with accelerating the scaling of all-domain attritable autonomous systems. It was then that she discussed driving innovation and culture change and the end result would be the fielding of thousands of drones in the next 18-24 months. The REMA project would seem to be a direct outcome of the Replicator Initiative.
REMA Program
“The REMA program’s primary objectives are to enhance remotely operated group 1-3 stock commercial and military drones at the speed of relevance,” according to DARPA’s Tactical Technologies Office. Unmanned aerial systems in groups 1-3 are considered the ‘low’ end of the spectrum in terms of size and endurance.
REMA is also focused on outpacing adversarial countermeasures when it comes to UAS technology.
“REMA is focused on creating autonomous solutions to maximize effectiveness of stock commercial and small military drones on the battlefield,” said Dr. Lael Rudd, REMA program manager. “Through creating an autonomy adapter that works with all commercial drones, regardless of manufacturer, and by developing mission-specific autonomy that is constantly refreshed and easy to upload prior to a mission, we aim to give drone operators the advantage in fast-paced combat operations.”
REMA is an 18-month, single-phase program that is divided into two technical areas; a drone-autonomy adapter interface and mission-specific autonomy software.
“REMA will be able to agnostically detect the drone type when connected and apply autonomy to increase the drone’s capability,” the release continued. “REMA will be completed in development cycles starting at three-month intervals and accelerating to one-month intervals, to repeatedly provide new and improved autonomy for direct transition.”
The contracts for the ‘drone-autonomy’ adapter were awarded to Anduril and RTX. Leidos, Northrop Grumman, and Soartech were awarded the ‘autonomy-software’ contracts. A full working solution is expected to be demonstrated in March 2024.
