Tesla CEO Elon Musk might have his sights set on killing piloted military aircraft
The United States out-spends the next three largest national defense budgets combined. As such, you probably expect the airplanes in the military’s arsenal to be really, really expensive. You’d be right. Incidentally, outspoken Tesla CEO and soon-to-be head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk isn’t shy about his feelings on the seriously spendy F-35 Lightning II.
Elon Musk thinks the F-35 fighter program is a huge waste of money and “broken,” citing a future in unmanned combat applications
Just a couple of months after unveiling the self-driving Tesla Robotaxi and Robovan, the brand’s eccentric and controversial CEO identified another segment for autonomous applications. In a heated X post, Elon Musk said “The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level, because it was required to be too many things to too many people.”
Granted, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II does fit that bill. The United States Air Force (USAF) runs a conventional F-35A, while the United States Navy (USN) operates a catapult-assisted F-35C variant. The United States Marine Corps (USMC) flies the F-35B, a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) version. Interestingly enough, the impetus behind the program was to save money on military spending.
Musk also revisited the frequent point of drones lowering the human cost of combat operations for American service members. “And manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway. Will just get pilots killed.”
According to the New York Post, Elon Musk posted on X with a follow-up citing the invasion of Ukraine. “Crewed fighter jets are an inefficient way to extend the range of missiles or drop bombs. A reusable drone can do so without all the overhead of a human pilot. And fighter jets will be shot down very quickly if the opposing force has sophisticated SAM or drones, as shown by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
But that’s when the historically outspoken CEO took a turn for the worse and tried his hand at comedy. “Fighter jets do have the advantage of helping Air Force officers get laid. Drones are much less effective in this regard,” the South African businessman joked.
