The USA sent a bunch of kamikaze planes against China: what is known

The US Department of Defense sent the first batch of drones developed under the Replicator program to the Indo-Pacific region. The deliveries marked the first phase of a multi-year strategy to deploy thousands of kamikaze UAVs against China, Interesting Engineering wrote.

But the production and deployment of thousands of suicide drones is only one part of the program. Another goal is to create technologies that will allow the production of new UAVs as soon as possible, if necessary. The military hopes rapid deployment of large numbers of unmanned aerial vehicles could help deter Chinese aggression in the Pacific by 2027. Many analysts believe that 2027 is the year when China may try to annex the island of Taiwan.

The US Department of Defense does not disclose information about which drones were delivered because it prefers to keep its enemies in the dark. However, it is known that Replicator has developed unmanned surface vehicles such as Switchblade 600 and V-BAT, unmanned aerial systems and counter-UAV systems of various sizes that can carry different types of loads.

Important

The Pentagon has requested $1 billion to fund the program from Fiscal Year 2024 through Fiscal Year 2025. The Army expects to receive half that amount in fiscal year 2024. The remaining $500 million has already been included in next year’s Pentagon budget and distributed among various categories.

We previously reported that Ukrainian MiG-29s can carry American decoy drones over 450 km. In the spring of 2023, the United States transferred the ADM-160 MALD UAV to Ukraine. The devices are used to overload Russian air defenses during attacks.