Among his first targets as co-leader of incoming President Donald Trump’s (advisory) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk took to his social media platform X with scathing statements concerning the Lockheed Martin 5th Generation F-35 stealth fighter – and manned combat aircraft, in general. Musk wrote: “…some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35.”
Musk has plenty of company in critiquing the F-35 program. With its cost overruns (currently pegged at $180 billion over budget), delays, and technical difficulties regarding reliability, maintainability, and mission availability, the F-35 has more than its share of detractors. Still, according to a report in Forbes, “Training exercises and simulations suggest that the F-35 is highly capable, with one report stating that in realistic testing scenarios it killed enemy aircraft at a ratio of 20 to 1.”
Musk’s assessment goes beyond slamming the multi-mission F-35 program, suggesting that any and all crewed fighter aircraft are obsolete, and unmanned drones should replace them across the board. He wrote on X, “The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level, because it was required to be too many things to too many people. This made it an expensive and complex jack of all trades, master of none. Success was never in the set of possible outcomes. And manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway. Will just get pilots killed.
“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 [surface to air missiles] or drones, as shown by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
Musk went even further with his contempt for crewed fighters, posting, “Fighter jets do have the advantage of helping Air Force officers get laid. Drones are much less effective in this regard.”
Musk’s post on X was not entirely uncomplimentary to America’s military weaponry, overall. He conceded, “Some U.S. weapons systems are good, albeit overpriced, but please, in the name of all that is holy, let us stop the worst military value for money in history that is the F-35 program!”
