The initial round of the Department of Defense’s Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, or RDER, focused on transitioning commercial prototypes for service branches’ use has drawn over 200 proposals.
At least seven projects are already pipelined in the stepped-up technology acquisition, with surveillance and communication technologies dominating the funded lineup, according to a Breaking Defense report.
The RDER-funded efforts include the development of new systems for surveillance balloons, underwater communications and targeting nodes. Other projects consist of technologies geared at enhancing communications, sensors and technical capabilities of already-developed platforms, such as unmanned speedboats.
Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering a Wash100 Award winner, announced in December that RDER will transition its first projects to production in fiscal year 2024.
The Pentagon has sought a $687 million RDER budget for FY 2024 and $450 million for FY 2025, with five RDER projects already included in the funding request.
DOD officials are considering support to an additional 11 first-round projects with the most potential, Shyu’s office disclosed. A second round of RDER screening on 51 projects is ongoing, with 25 prototypes already funded for field testing, the office added.
