Speaking to the crowd of fighter pilots of the US Air Force (USAF), technology entrepreneur Elon Musk pronounced the end to the manned fighter jet era.
Step aside, autonomous drones and manned spaceflight are the future of military aerospace, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium.
Elon Musk, the successful entrepreneur and billionaire whose rockets take Pentagon sensors and satellites to space, believes drone warfare will be defining the future combat. He added that the artificial intelligence has the potential to be the most transformative technology of the coming future
Drone warfare is where the future will be!
During a fireside chat with U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John Thompson at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida, Musk expressed,
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“The fighter jet era has passed. Drone warfare is where the future will be. It’s not that I want the future to be – it’s just, this is what the future will be.”
The Joint Strike Fighter, there should be a competitor
The Pentagon’s most expensive weapons system Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet should have a competitor. Musk later elaborated on Twitter that the F-35 competitor should be a drone.
He said,
“The Joint Strike Fighter, there should be a competitor … that’s a controversial subject but I don’t think it’s good to have one provider. 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.”
The United States was at risk of falling behind other nations
Throughout the discussion with Thompson, Musk warned that the United States was at risk of falling behind other nations if it did not prioritize innovation. He said,
“This is not something that was a risk in times past but is a risk now. I have zero doubt that if the United States doesn’t seek innovation in space it will be second in space.”
The Chinese economy will surpass the United States’ by at least two-fold
Elon Musk also anticipated that the Chinese economy will eventually surpass the United States’ by at least two-fold.
Musk said,
“A thing that will feel pretty strange is that the Chinese economy is probably going to be at least twice as big as the United States’ economy, maybe three times. The foundation of war is economics. If you have half the resources of the counterparty then you better be real innovative, if you’re not innovative, you’re going to lose.”