Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, speaks with US Air Force Lieutenant General John Thompson, commander Space and Missile Systems Center commander at Space Pitch Day in San Francisco, California. US Air Force
CNBC: Elon Musk tells a room full of Air Force pilots: ‘The fighter jet era has passed’
* Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk predicted Friday that the future of war would be carried out by autonomous drones and not by legacy aircraft.
* “The fighter jet era has passed,” Musk said during a fireside chat with U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John Thompson at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando.
* Musk also said that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet, which is the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons system, should have a competitor.
ORLANDO, Fla., — Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk predicted Friday that the future of war would be carried out by autonomous drones and not by legacy aircraft.
“The fighter jet era has passed,” Musk said during a fireside chat with U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John Thompson at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida. “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,” he added.
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WNU Editor: It will take a few decades to reach the point that Elon Musk is talking about. There is too much vested in human operated fighter jets and other aircraft for such a shift to happen in the short and/or medium term..
More News On SpaceX’s Founder Elon Musk Telling The US Air Force That The Era Of Fighter Jets Is Ending
Elon Musk Says Era Of Fighter Jet Is Over And F-35 Should Have Drone Competitor -- The Drive
SpaceX’s founder tells US Air Force the era of fighter jets is ending -- Defense News
‘The fighter jet era has passed’: Elon Musk -- Flight Global
Elon Musk says the US's F-35 stealth jet 'would have no chance' against a 'drone fighter plane' -- Business Insider
Elon Musk: ‘The Fighter Jet Era Has Passed’ -- Air Force Magazine
Elon Musk: F-35 ‘Would Have No Chance Against Drone Controlled by Human’ -- Sputnik
So the guy that builds cars that keep driving themselves into barriers and lighting themselves on fire is telling the USAF that fighter jets and their pilots are obsolete. Maybe he should focus more on trying to get his company to actually turn a profit.
ReplyDeleteAnd gas cars don't catch on fire?
DeleteSorry anon @1228 but he's absolutely right. He's not saying today. Look I'm not a Musk fan, think he's highly overrated. I called the end to fighter jets on this blog 2 years ago. Think WNU back then commented similar like today/is consistent in this, this is not the first story on the end of manned fighter jets.
ReplyDeleteSo if you can accept that Musk and I both mean "the era has ended" as in "there's a major technology and warfighting disruption on the 10-20 year horizon coming and it's based on drones, robotics and AI and we should really consider switching to more and more drone and drone swarm based fighting but have to keep human fighters and human decision makers in various fields that either cannot currently or should not permanently eg for ethical reasons be replaced by machines." we'd probably see eye to eye.
Humans have immense general AI capabilities and genuine general intelligence. But. Our narrow focused intelligence and capabilities such as including but not limited to audiovisual (eg beyond spectrum) and analytical capabilities and on top robotics or UAV would outmatch any human in 3D space fights particularly due to advantages of not being limited by gforce exposure, defence saturation /overwhelming etc etc etc
But in areas of let's say fighting near civilian targets, drones and the use of drones will get a lot of pushback particularity in the field of target acquisition. But within areas of defined battlefields or areas to defend eg an oil platform in the ocean or desert, drones are great choices in some cases
human pilots will be around for a long time, also to ease the public into it. I'm thinking 20+ years until we go "wow he's driving/flying himself. .fuck. .that's weird.. I better report it"..likely much longer in all cases and use cases including civilian life
When the fighting is at its heaviest & desperate, will a drone be able to fix bay'nets & charge? Despite the era of push button wars since the 1950s they'll always need the infantry perhaps with jet packs & phasers with bay'nets attachments 🖖😉
ReplyDeleteIt has been some time since anyone in our military "fixed bayonets" and even had one to fix
ReplyDeleteLast bayonet charge that I know of was in Vietnam. An American unit was surrounded and out of ammo. The sergeant asked the lieutenant what to do. The lieutenant looked like some typical grads with ears that would get him nicknamed Wingnut. Well, the soldiers looked at him like he was not and asked the sergeant "WTF?" the sergeant replied, you heard the lieutenant "Fix bayonets." So they did. They all charged and Charlie broke.
ReplyDeleteLieutenant was done in by a Dear John letter.
In the battle of Danny Boy 2004 in Iraq, there was very succesfull bayonet charge. The british army slaughtered their opponents in the Mahdi Army in close combat.
DeleteIndividual succesfull charges with bayonets have been made in Afghanistan. Fearsome weapon in hand to hand combat. I have compeated in Martial arts at high national level but I would not like an opponent with a bayonet.