We know the amount of crazy engineering goes into making a fighter jet and the levels of skills and training one need to learn before getting in the cockpit to take down enemy aircraft in a dogfight. However, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, all this will be a thing of the past.
Musk feels that the era of fighter jets is soon going to be over and will be taken over by autonomous drones. He made these statements while speaking with US Air Force Lt. Gen John Thompson at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida on Monday.
He said, ¡°Drone warfare is where the future will be. It's not that I want the future to be ¨C it's just, this is what the future will be.¡±
He spoke about Lockheed¡¯s newest F-35 fighter jet, which to this date is the most expensive weapon¡¯s system and how it must have a drone fighter plane as a competitor. Responding to Lee Hudson, a Pentagon editor for publication Aviation Week on a tweet, he said, ¡°The competitor should be a drone fighter plane that¡¯s remote-controlled by a human, but with its manoeuvres augmented by autonomy. The F-35 would have no chance against it.¡±
While speaking to the audience he also shed light on the need for the authorities to look for new innovations or else they¡¯d fall behind competitor nations. He added, ¡°This is not something that was a risk in times past but is a risk now. I have zero doubt that if the United States doesn't seek innovation in space it will be second in space.¡±
He also feels that Chinese economy could surpass US economy two or maybe even three times, ¡° A thing that will feel pretty strange is that the Chinese economy is probably going to be at least twice as big as the United States' economy, maybe three times.¡±
He further added, ¡° The foundation of war is economics. If you have half the resources of the counterparty then you better be real innovative, if you're not innovative, you're going to lose.¡±
China¡¯s strides to AI and autonomy aren¡¯t news with it being applied on facial-recognition systems that are set up at spots around the nation. It has pledged $150 billion to become a world leader in AI by 2030.?
While some might think otherwise, drone warfare has its own set of advantages. For example, the life of the pilot is safe. He/she doesn't need to get into extensive g-force training to be selected as a fighter pilot. And with less hardware (like oxygen setup, emergency evac setup etc) that's otherwise necessary with a human on flight, the aircraft can be designed with more mission-centric hardware to be successful on the battlefield.
Do you think drone warfare will ever be as good as human aerial combat? Do you think its the only logical step ahead? Let us know in the comments below.