Fresh salvos have been fired in the Elon Musk vs F-35 war even as the aircraft maker Lockheed Martin, after losing out on the contract to build the US Air Force’s 6th generation fighter jet, vowed to upgrade the 5th generation F-35 Lightning II with 6th generation technology.
Tech czar Musk has never veiled his disdain for the most expensive weapon development program in the Pentagon’s history, repeatedly calling the F-35s “obsolete” and “expensive” in the era of cheap swarms of drones.
On earlier occasions as well, Musk has called the F-35 program the “worst military value for money in history”. His views have garnered attention, particularly since he was appointed to advise the US government on optimizing federal spending.
Musk’s recent statement was made on X, in the context of the burgeoning Chinese drone technologies. The ballooning F-35 cost was raised by investigative journalist Laura Loomer.
She claimed that Lockheed Martin was “delivering F-35 fighter jets that are simply not ready for combat.”
Media reports in the past have claimed that, even in 2025, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has not been able to meet guidelines for developing and testing software, particularly with the long-delayed Technology Refresh 3 and Block 4 efforts, according to the annual Operational Test and Evaluation report.
In response to Loomer, Musk wrote on X: “Crewed aircraft will be destroyed instantly by cheap drone swarms”.
The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, developed by Lockheed Martin, is the Department of Defense’s most expensive and ambitious weapons program.
Despite being praised for its critical role in US national security, the program has been consistently criticized for its excessive expenses and delays. The program is the most expensive military endeavor in history, with the US Government Accountability Office estimating that its lifetime cost will exceed US$2 trillion.
In 2024, a declassified Pentagon report revealed the program’s flaws. It said: “The overall reliability, maintainability, and availability of the US fleet remains below service expectations.” Lockheed Martin responded that the F-35 “consistently meets or exceeds the reliability performance requirements we are contracted to deliver,” as “almost 90% of F-35 components are performing better than required.” The aircraft is operational in 20 allied countries as well.
While awarding the contract for the Next Generation Air Dominance Platform, christened F-47, to Boeing, the US government has vowed to learn from the mistakes committed in developing the 5th-generation F-35 Lightning II, which has turned it into a boondoggle weapon program.
The biggest mistake of all time has been that the US government does not own the intellectual property associated with the development of the 5th-generation fighter. This has given the primary contractor control over several aspects of the aircraft’s lifecycle.
Over the years, the US Air Force has discussed the lessons learned from the development of F-35 fighter jets. One major issue has been the “concurrency” approach, where production began even before the design was fully frozen. This led to costly and time-consuming design changes during production.
Lockheed Martin finally broke its silence when its Chief Executive, Jim Taiclet, claimed that the company can integrate 80% of sixth-generation NGAD technology into its fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II, which is already in production (with more than 1,100 produced so far), at half the cost. This upgrade will create what will be known as the “fifth-generation plus” variant of the F-35. “We’re basically going to take the [F-35] chassis and turn it into a Ferrari,” Taiclet asserted.
The importance of manned fighter jets for long-drawn-out important missions has not been disputed, but the rise of the Chinese drone industry has created ripples in the strategies of the world’s leading countries.
“Chinese drones like DJI or military models cost a thousandth of the price of an F-35 but can destroy one in seconds,” Musk has previously written.
“Crewed fighter jets are an inefficient way to extend the range of missiles or drop bombs. A reusable drone can do so without all the overhead of a human pilot. And fighter jets will be shot down very quickly if the opposing force has sophisticated SAM or drones, as shown by the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” Musk has opined.
Rise Of China’s Drone Industry
Even before the Ukraine-Russia war underscored that the future warfare will have a greater component of unmanned combat vehicles, China had factored unmanned systems into its strategic planning.
China’s 2019 defense white paper states that “there is a prevailing trend to develop long-range precision, intelligent, stealthy or unmanned weaponry or equipment.” It adds that “intelligent warfare is on the horizon.”
China has developed both strike-capable systems and non-weaponized systems for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. A 2018 DoD report noted that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) “is closing the gap with the US Air Force across a spectrum of capabilities, gradually eroding longstanding US technical advantages.”
China’s Wing Loong and Caihong (CH) series have become platforms of choice for countries worldwide, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. It also has a fleet of reconnaissance drones, including the High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Soaring Dragon and Cloud Shadow.
China’s domination of the drone market was on full display during the Zhuhai air show in 2024. Beijing unveiled new members of China’s CH drone family, including CH-9, a large-sized armed reconnaissance drone, and CH-7, the latest upgraded version of the stealth early-warning drone.
Another low-cost drone, CH-3D, and a cargo drone, CH-YH1000, were also on display.
The CH-9, the latest entry in the CH armed reconnaissance drone series, has a range of 11,500 kilometers and can take off with a weight of 5,000 kilograms. It can fly for 40 hours doing surveillance.
Besides these drones, China has unveiled the next-generation’ Mother of all drones,’ capable of carrying smaller drones in its belly.
The Jetank, a heavy unmanned aerial vehicle, was showcased for the first time at the Zhuhai Air Show 2024, which concluded on November 17. The large drone can carry missiles, bombs, and smaller drones, earning the moniker of “swarm carrier.”
The Jetank was displayed at the outdoor static display area of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). According to the Global Times, it has a maximum takeoff weight of 16 tons, a maximum payload capacity of six tons, and a wingspan of 25 meters.
The next-generation unmanned platform features eight hardpoints and can switch mission modules by utilizing different modularized payloads. The display showed the drone equipped with a radar system and an electro-optical pod at its nose. It can be linked to the satellite, providing battlefield situational awareness and remote-control capability.
Swarm Drones
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) defines Drone Swarms as consisting of coordinated systems of at least three and potentially thousands of drones that can perform missions autonomously with minimal human oversight.
These swarms utilize swarm intelligence by emulating biological patterns observed in groups of ants, bees, or birds, where decentralized rules generate complex collective behavior.
Modern drone swarms integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to navigate obstacles such as GPS jamming, radio signal interference, and adverse environmental conditions, thereby maintaining synchronized operations.
The crewed jets require high maintenance and intensive training, along with substantial infrastructure, as opposed to drone swarms, which are cost-effective and scalable. A single F-35 costs approximately $80 million, while a swarm of 1,000 drones might be deployed for a fraction of that price, leveraging mass production and modular design.
The drone swarms are set to become battlefield disruptors, utilizing artificial intelligence to execute complex maneuvers.
The militaries around the world have announced their respective swarm drone programs. The French Icarus project, the Russian Lightning, the Spanish RAPAZ, the UK’s Blue Bear swarm, and the UAE/South African N-Raven.
The Pentagon’s Replicator program aims to deploy thousands of inexpensive, autonomous drones by August 2025. With $500 million allocated for Fiscal Year 2024 and additional requests for FY 2025, efforts focus on Autonomous Collaborative Teaming (ACT) and Opportunistic Resilient Network Topology (ORIENT) to ensure effective drone coordination and communication.
The US has another project, the Perdix System, that has been operational since 2016. Integrated with the F/A-18 fighter jets, it has undergone rigorous testing. Over 670 Perdix drones have been produced, showcasing significant advancements in swarm capabilities.
In the Perdix system drone swarm, the micro drone swarm is launched from F/A-18 Super Hornets. It autonomously carries out a range of missions, demonstrating collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing capabilities.
Perdix are not pre-programmed, synchronized individuals; they are a collective organism, sharing a single distributed brain for decision-making and adapting to one another like swarms in nature. Because every Perdix communicates and collaborates with every other Perdix, the swarm has no leader and can gracefully adapt to drones entering or exiting the team.
