Billionaire Elon Musk, tapped by US President-elect Donald Trump to slash federal government spending, lashed out at modern fighter jets on Monday, saying that drones were the future of air combat.
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“Manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway. Will just get pilots killed,” said the head of SpaceX, Tesla and X, in a post on his social media platform.
Musk singled out the F-35 – a next-generation fighter jet manufactured by US-based Lockheed Martin that entered service in 2015 – for criticism.
“Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35,” he posted, alongside a video of hundreds of Chinese drones hovering in formation in the sky.
The F-35, the world’s most advanced fighter, is stealth capable and can also be used to gather intelligence.
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Germany, Poland, Finland and Romania have all recently signed deals for the aircraft.