Details of the new drones are still secret, but a request to fund them will be included in the annual budget request that the Biden administration will submit to Congress early in 2022, Kendall told Politico. Kendall conducted an interview on Saturday while attending the Reagan National Defense Forum in the state of California.
Politico said the funding initiative revealed the determination of the Biden administration to invest in such systems in its build up against China, which senior officials repeatedly now refer publicly to as the “pacing threat” facing the United States.
Kendall explained that the new drones are designed to work in conjunction with fighter aircraft like the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter and the existing F-22 and the F-35 jets as well as with bombers like the B-21. Kendall said he hoped to launch the two new programs in 2023.