Elon Musk criticized the F-35 – called for armed drones instead

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is no stranger to criticism. Some U.S. lawmakers and government regulators have questioned their costs, while others have suggested that too much emphasis has been placed on a single aircraft.

On Sunday, the fifth-generation stealth fighter was once again in the crosshairs. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk published a series of posts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in which he took aim at the aircraft’s capabilities compared to unmanned aerial systems.

It started with Musk sharing a video of Chinese drones with the caption: “Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35.”

Musk may not have expected the reaction to come.

Aviation fans quickly refuted the aircraft’s capabilities, noting that China had gone to great lengths to copy the F-35’s capabilities, while Israel used its variant – the F-35I Adir – to attack and strike Iranian military bases in Russia manufactured air defense systems.

“Elon Musk has shown once again that he is there for himself and no one else,” said technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.

“Musk wants to do AI, but hasn’t accepted that we’re not quite there yet,” Entner added. “The future will be AI-controlled UAVs, but there are so many problems today, especially latency, while all current drones are subsonic and are relatively simple missile platforms.”

Drone attack

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has shown that drones can be effective anti-tank weapons, and it has shown that drones can be effective in attacks on civilian infrastructure as well as in attacks on warships and other assets. So Musk may be right that drones are the future, but we’re not there yet.

“The F-35, along with the F-22 Raptor, also exceeds what Russia and China have,” Entner said. “A modern UAV would have no chance against a MiG-21 from 40 years ago and certainly not against modern platforms.”

“Unmanned combat drones will be the future in 20 years, but as Donald Rumsfeld said, ‘You fight with the army you have, not the army you want.’

Is Musk out of his league?

Musk has long been known for his very personal and sometimes even outrageous comments

With President Trump’s return to the White House and the close ties Musk has with Trump, the tech entrepreneur’s megaphone is louder than usual, explained social media expert Susan Schreiner of C4 Trends.

“In recent days, Sam Harris, one of his former business partners, has suggested that Musk suffers from X-social media addiction,” Schreiner said.

“He’s on a never-ending spree to implode and disrupt anything and everything and stay in the headlines, and he’s essentially been given the green light,” she added.

Musk’s suggestion that only “idiots” would build manned fighter jets may have been carefully planned – his target was Lockheed Martin, the country’s largest aerospace and defense company.

“Musk is trolling the military establishment by selectively selecting information, turning it into misinformation and initiating a debate based on visions of the future,” Schreiner warned, noting that he is also co-head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency.

She said we shouldn’t expect Musk to stick to facts and could instead use X to spread misinformation while he continues to say outrageous things.

And in this latest post, the founder of Tesla and Space

“It’s not as if the technology for advanced drone-based warfare currently exists,” Schreiner said, echoing comments from military analysts. “These new technologies that will transform the military must be proven and tested. In the meantime, how should the U.S. and its allies defend and/or deter bad actors?”

The fifth generation fighter

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is currently manufactured in three variants and is used by the United States Air Force, United States Navy and United States Marine Corps, while it has also been adopted by U.S. allies and partner nations around the world.

In his post about X, Musk didn’t say how mere drones could replace it.

“The F-35 fighter is the best fighter aircraft in the world today — period, end of discussion,” said Harry Kazianis, senior director at the Center for the National Interest. “While drones cannot replace the firepower and unique technology of the F-35 today, the Air Force and Lockheed must think carefully about how drones will shape the wars of the future.”

The US Air Force and US Navy are now working together under the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, which aims to develop unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) to act as a “loyal wingman” for manned combat aircraft.

“The F-35 is a server in the sky and it would have no problem controlling multiple drones. “It is a beast, an impressive fighter aircraft that is very powerful and can communicate with other aircraft,” said Entner.

“The Lightning II will eventually become less of a fighter and more of a ‘general in the sky.’ If you were to combine the F-35’s digestive data capabilities with the ability to coordinate longer and deadlier drones.” “That could come out in the next 10 years – that would be a powerful combination,” Kazianis continued. “And the Air Force seems to be thinking largely along those lines.”

Maybe Musk didn’t get the memo.