Elon Musk says USs F-35 would have no chance against drone fighter plane
Musk said there should be a competitor to the F-35 program.
Dunya News -- Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II, the costly stealth jet considered to be pinnacle of US military aviation, would stand no chance against a drone that is remotely piloted by a human.
Pentagon editor at Aviation Week Lee Hudson said in a tweet that Musk said there should be a competitor to the F-35 program.
Musk responded to her tweet, saying that the "competitor should be a drone fighter plane that’s remote controlled by a human, but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy."
"The F-35 would have no chance against it," he added.
The competitor should be a drone fighter plane that’s remote controlled by a human, but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy. The F-35 would have no chance against it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 28, 2020
The F-35, variants of which are used by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, has had its critics since its inception. Lawmakers have scrutinized it over multiple delays in production and its price tag, which at $406.5 billion, makes it the costliest weapons program in US history.
The Air Force conference at which Musk made his comments included senior US military officials and pilots.
Speaking with Space and Missile Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. John Thompson, Musk said autonomous drone warfare "is where it’s at" and "where the future will be."
"It’s not that I want the future to be this. That’s just what the future will be," Musk added. "The fighter jet era has passed. Yeah, the fighter jet era has passed. It’s drones."
