Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, joins the show to discuss where unmanned and autonomous systems are taking U.S. military power. He breaks down the logic of attritable platforms, scaling production, and why the next decade of deterrence is going to be won by systems you can field in volume. We get into what “next-gen warfare” looks like when autonomy and electronic warfare compete inside contested environments and why the US Navy may be fielding unmanned craft, no known weapon can defeat.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Background

00:57 Kratos and Next Generation Warfare

04:08 Challenges in Unmanned Aircraft Development

06:51 Supply Chain and Production Scaling

09:46 Ethical Considerations in Autonomous Warfare