The tech billionaire said the US should instead invest in drone tech, reigniting debates over military priorities.
Last November, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk made clear that he was not a proponent of manned aircraft, specifically the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. In a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which Musk purchased in 2022 for $44 billion, the SpaceX and Tesla chief made clear that he supported drones over the fifth-generation fighter.
Musk shared a video of Chinese drones, with the caption, “Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35.”
This week, Musk took indirect aim at the Boeing F-47, the sixth-generation manned fighter that is the centerpiece of the United States Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.
While responding to a post on X about the “drone arms race,” Musk wrote, “We better figure out how to build drones at scale fast or we are doomed to be a vassal state, as you posted.”
He then added, “And we are losing very badly. Spending over a trillion dollars on a useless new crewed fighter plane instead of a drone program is severely undermining our national security.”
Although Musk didn’t call out the F-47 by name, it is clear that he meant the aircraft, as Boeing was announced in March to have been selected to produce the sixth-generation fighter, beating out rival Lockheed Martin. There has been speculation that it received the designation F-47 to note President Donald Trump’s return to the White House as the “47th president.”
The Fight Between Trump and Musk Intensifies
Even as Musk had been critical of the F-35 last year, he had little to say about the F-47 this year, likely because he had been a close ally of President Trump. However, Musk, who headed the “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE and was charged with cutting waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government, had a falling out with Trump over the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which was only signed into law last week.
Musk has since vowed to launch a third political party, the America Party, arguing that the bill adds several trillion dollars to the national debt. Trump countered that Musk’s ire is due to the One Big Beautiful Bill, which ends the electric vehicle (EV) tax credit on September 30.
The US Air Force Will Invest More Money into Drone Production
What Musk did not acknowledge in his criticism of the F-35 or with the “useless new crewed fighter plane” is that the United States Air Force has moved forward with its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). Two companies, Anduril and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), are already working on prototypes of drones that could serve as the “loyal wingmen” alongside manned aircraft, including the F-35 and F-47.
It is expected that Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor will also serve as the first fighter to control the CCA as the testing progresses.
Last year, Anduril’s “Fury” and GA-ASI’s “Gambit” successfully passed the critical design review (CDR) stage, clearing the way for each company to proceed to the production phase. In March, Fury and Gambit received the designations YFQ-44A and YFQ-42A, respectively. Each platform has been conducting ground tests focused on propulsion systems, avionics, autonomy integration, and ground control interfaces. Those assessments were meant to validate performance, inform future design decisions, and prepare the systems for flight testing later this year.
It was also last month that the Air Force activated a new squadron, the Experimental Operations Unit (EOU), as a component of the 53rd Wing at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada. It will help drive the operational capability for the CCA.
Lockheed Martin Questions Elon Musk
In December, Paul Livingston, chief executive of Lockheed Martin’s UK division, told The Telegraph newspaper that Musk was being shortsighted about the capabilities of the F-35 and other manned aircraft.
“I think Elon has an amazing brain and he’s done some incredible things, particularly with SpaceX,” Livingston said in an interview with the paper of record. “Who doesn’t admire that stuff? But there’s an understanding of the threat that he won’t have, because he doesn’t have the clearances to understand that. On this subject, he’s wrong.”
Musk’s criticism of the F-35 and F-47 further overlooks the fact that while China and Russia are developing drones, both countries remain committed to manned fighters. Drones may be the future, but manned aircraft aren’t ready to fly off into the sunset just yet.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a thirty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image Credit: Shutterstock/Frederic Legrand.
