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.

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk urged the Air Force to prioritize innovation and encourage industry competition as the service seeks to create the nation's newest military branch — the Space Force.

In a conversation with the top U.S. Air Force officer on space research and acquisition at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando last week, Musk said the commercial space industry must try harder to develop reusable rockets. SpaceX is currently the leader in that effort.

"Creating a fully reusable system and having that be in volume production and volume launch that's super, super hard," Musk told Air Force Lt. Gen. John Thompson, adding that designing one-use rockets was "quite easy."

He described Starship, the next-generation rocket SpaceX is developing, as having reusability potential, which would make it the culmination of his vision of sending people to and from the moon and Mars.

"The vehicle we are working on right now, which is quite difficult, is Starship and that has the potential for full reusability," Musk said Friday, adding that the program was doing well.