OUSD R&E Accelerating Capability Transition Through Experimentation of Select Emerging Technologies

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)) and the Indiana National Guard will host the second 2024 Technology Readiness Experimentation event (T-REX 24-2) to mature and assess promising capability prototypes.

T-REX is scheduled for Aug. 19 - 28 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.

T-REX is a critical component of the experimentation campaign being executed through the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) program. RDER was envisioned in FY22 (funded in FY23) to help accelerate promising new prototypes into experimentation campaigns that would build the 'body of evidence' to enable accelerated fielding. It focuses on joint and multi-domain kill chains based on Combatant Command priority gaps. In support of RDER, T-REX was developed to enable technical evaluation and obtain user feedback on capabilities under development in order to ensure they are ready for more advanced and integrated operational evaluations.

"T-REX is valuable for helping us identify joint technologies that we should quickly push through the development timeline for combatant commanders to use sooner rather than later," said Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu. "It will also help advance capabilities for participation in the Maritime Big Play exercise happening this fall with our AUKUS partners."

While T-REX is laser focused on RDER success, DoD leverages the event to enable joint technology demonstration and acceleration across the department. T-REX 24-2 will include more than 75 new and innovative defense technologies from traditional and non-traditional defense companies that will either undergo full-scale tactical assessment or will be on display. In partnership with DoD's Replicator initiative, prototypes being evaluated include uncrewed, multi-domain, autonomous systems with resilient communications.

The multi-week event will be broken into two parts, with National Guard soldiers and other units conducting scenario-based training events using the capabilities being tested, and culminating with open house events providing senior leaders and media opportunities to observe demonstrations and interact with the technologies, developers, and evaluators.

The experiments include participants from Australia and the United Kingdom who have been instrumental partners and are our first international partners on the RDER program.

Since its inception, the DoD has built and expanded an incredible partnership with the National Guard through T-REX. The Indiana National Guard has hosted four T-REX events and has been instrumental in helping test critical military technologies, while also developing a program to train personnel across the services.