6 hours Ago By Joe Kunzler
Recently, noted entrepreneur who helped PayPal and Tesla become worldwide brands plus successful rocket man as leader of SpaceX and Starlink; Elon Musk decided to start posting on X – formerly Twitter – about of all subjects, the F-35 Lightning II. Musk’s tweets would set off a global rebuttal, including from Billie Flynn, former F-35 test pilot and current military aviation pundit. Musk on X: “F-35 design was broken at the requirements level” On X, Musk posted several statements about the F-35 from his verified account.
Musk started with a post of a video with mini drone swarms like at drone shows. As if drones at drone shows can pack a weapon and think autonomously to dogfight with another aerial vehicle like the X-62A. Musk would expand from his November 23 post to other posts much more.
.. strident such as the post below: Considering that Musk is a senior advisor to President-elect Donald Trump to the point of flying on Trump Force One with the President-elect , this raises some concerns.
Additionally, Musk is co-chair of President-elect Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project to cut government waste. Musk has prompted responses by experts. On LinkedIn, Billie Flynn responds to Elon Musk’s post Billie Flynn, one of Lockheed Martin’s test pilots who has since semi-retired into becoming a military aviation pundit, shared on LinkedIn : Absolutely Elon Musk.
Who needs pilots flying manned fighters like Lockheed Martin hashtag#F35s and Boeing Defense, Space & Security Super Hornets and Growlers? As soon as you get in your driver-less Tesla, drive through Los Angeles rush hour traffic to LAX airport, get in your pilotless jet and fly to Houston, Texas, get in a driver-less Tesla at rush hour to drive to your destination. Do that not just one day but everyday for even a month. And then come back to us and tell the world that you actually have some experience in this domain.
And that's just traveling to and from without the complexity and ethic considerations of delivering extreme lethality of combat vehicles. Until then..
.You don't know what you don't know! Clearly, Flynn knows what he speaks of, unlike Musk regarding fighter jets. Flynn has time flying CF-18s over hostile skies and many scrimmages for the Royal Canadian Air Force before test-flying the Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-35 Panther; the other is sadly not even a general aviation pilot and has no military service.
Yet Musk did tweet this today: Additionally, while Musk pounds away on his X micro-blogging site with little regard for research, Flynn has been a regular guest in the media, discussing, among other issues, Auto-GCAS and human factors in flying fighter jets. Flynn was recently on the Fighter Pilot Podcast as per below: Flynn’s blog is regularly updated with in-depth insights into military aviation. But others with less clout have also rebutted Musk.
Researcher in military technology also responds As Mauro Gilli, a senior researcher in military technology at the Center for Security Studies of the Swiss university ETH Zurich, shared with Business Insider , A drone operating within enemy airspace will not be remotely controlled. It will need to have a very high level of autonomy. The US Air Force is currently attempting to work on several projects involving drones operating in enemy airspace, including with autonomy.
So, let’s review. Before Musk’s posts, USAF committed to flying drones with autonomy Before Musk went on his latest X postings, the US Air Force had already committed to several drone projects with the intent to operate in hostile airspace both at home and aboard. Below is a partial review: Collaborative Combat Aircraft The USAF is also working on not just the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) but also the Modular Drone Program.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft is an intent to bring a low observable sensors + weapons truck to work with not just Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) but also...
the F-35 . Lockheed Martin's Project Carrera is working to upgrade the F-35 to work with Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones. In addition, the USAF and US Marines have been teaming F-35As and F-35Bs with XQ-58A Valkyries as per the post on X and photos below: But there is one more program that Musk and Flynn may find interesting.
.. this program is helping the CCA along.
X-62A Variable In-Flight Simulation Test Aircraft (VISTA) Using AI Then, there is the X-62A. The X-62A is a F-16 Viper paired with AI software to develop the software necessary for the CCA in mock dogfights . As per the above photos, the Secretary of the Air Force has flown in the X-62A.
Additionally, Simple Flying has analyzed the X-62A . Bottom line: Musk ignorant of needs for combat drones Although the above list was not comprehensive, the US Air Force is working on improving drone technology to supplement crewed combat aircraft. Musk clearly does not know what he does not know, unlike Flynn.
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