Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall warned Monday that war is coming and that it will be “a kind of war we have no modern experience with.” Kendall was speaking at the Air & Space Forces Association conference.

“Today the intelligence couldn’t be clearer,” Kendall said, according to CNN’s Haley Britzky. “Whatever its actual intentions may be, I could not say, but China is preparing for a war and specifically for a war with the United States.”

An Air Force story on the speech notes that Kendall recently wrote in a memo that “we will conduct a major initiative over the next several months to identify and implement the changes needed to meet our pacing challenge. This initiative will involve a comprehensive look at all aspects of how we organize, train and equip the Air Force and Space Force.”

Air Force photo by Andy Morataya