Elon Musk said the US military's vaunted F-35 stealth jet "would have no chance" against a drone piloted by a human.

"The competitor should be a drone fighter plane that's remote controlled by a human, but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy," Musk tweeted on Friday.

"It's not that I want the future to be this, that's just what the future will be," Musk said in separate comments. "The fighter jet era has passed. Yeah, the fighter jet era has passed. It's drones."

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested that Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II, the costly stealth jet considered to be pinnacle of US military aviation, "would have no chance" if pitted against a drone that is piloted by a human.


At the US Air Force's Air Warfare Symposium in Florida, Musk said there should be a competitor to the F-35 program, according to a tweet by Lee Hudson, Pentagon editor at Aviation Week.Musk responded in his own tweet , saying that 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," he added.


The F-35, variants of which are used by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, has had its critics since its inception. Lawmakers have scrutinized it over multiple delays in production as well as its price tag, which, at $406.5 billion, makes it the costliest weapons program in US history.


The Defense Department in October announced a $34 billion contract that includes delivery of 478 F-35s, according to CNBC .Problems with the F-35 surfaced soon after it joined the fleet. Over 800 flaws riddled the software, according to a recent report by the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, which also said the 25 mm cannon on the Air Force's F-35A, the most common variant, displayed an "unacceptable" level of accuracy.

The F-35 was also unable to meet a branch-wide goal set by the previous defense secretary, James Mattis, in 2019. Mattis wanted 80% of F-35s and other stealth aircraft to be "mission capable" 80% of the time.

The Air Force conference at which Musk made his comments included senior US military officials and pilots.


Speaking to Space and Missile Systems Center commander Lt. Gen. John Thompson, Musk said that autonomous drone warfare "is where it's at" and "where the future will be," according to Defense News

"It's not that I want the future to be this. That's just what the future will be," Musk added. "The fighter jet era has passed. Yeah, the fighter jet era has passed. It's drones."