Kill F-35 program? Here’s what TX Sen. Ted Cruz says after Elon Musk calls jet a waste

[libertybele]

Kill F-35 program? Here’s what TX Sen. Ted Cruz says after Elon Musk calls jet a waste


Texas Sen. Ted Cruz defended Lockheed Martin’s F-35 in a recent interview following billionaire Elon Musk’s call to stop funding program. Musk, who has been tapped to lead President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency with Vivek Ramaswamy, has criticized the Fort Worth-built fighter jet. In recent posts on his social media company X, Musk said Lookheed Martin’s F-35 program should “stop,” calling it the “worst military value for money in history that is the F-35.” In another post, he said “manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones.” Cruz addressed Musk’s criticisms and expressed support for the program in an interview with WFAA, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s media partner. Cruz said he’s a “big fan” of the F-35. The fighter jet gives the U.S. an “enormous advantage against our adversaries,” Cruz said, in the interview that aired on Sunday’s “Inside Texas Politics.” Musk is correct that the country needs to be investing in next generation technology, like hypersonics, drones and drone technology, Cruz said. “There’s a lot of advanced weaponry that we need to be investing in, but I think the F-35 gives us an advantage over every one of our enemies across the globe,” Cruz said. “And if there’s one thing the last four years have shown with the mess of foreign policy that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris created, is that we live in a dangerous world, and we need to be prepared to defend ourselves, and I think the F-35 is a hugely important part of doing that.”.........................

Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article297300489.html#storylink=cpy

[PeteS in CA]

Having "seen" the sometimes-destructive antics of driverless cars, including Teslas, moving to pilotless military aircraft would be foolish. Driverless cars make "choices" based on their pre-programmed recognition parameters plus situational experience learning. IOW, unique circumstances may be handled by the AI SW with good "guesses" or poor "guesses". On roads, poor "guesses" can turn out destructive; the consequences of poor "guesses" in combat would almost certainly be much worse.

[The_Reader_David]

Having "seen" the sometimes-destructive antics of driverless cars, including Teslas, moving to pilotless military aircraft would be foolish. Driverless cars make "choices" based on their pre-programmed recognition parameters plus situational experience learning. IOW, unique circumstances may be handled by the AI SW with good "guesses" or poor "guesses". On roads, poor "guesses" can turn out destructive; the consequences of poor "guesses" in combat would almost certainly be much worse.

But the choice is not between AI-controlled drones and manned fighters.  Drones as used be both sides in the Russo-Ukrainian war and the Israeli-Hezbollah war (such as it was after the pagers and walkie talkies too a lot of one side's leadership out of the fight) or for that matter our Reaper, Predator and assorted other models are almost all piloted.  It's just that the pilot is out of harm's way.  In the case of Reapers and Predators as used in Afghanistan, the pilots were usually here in the US and went home to their families at night instead of being on the battlefield at all.  (We didn't quite figure out how to handle the psychology of that right, spending your day killing people via drone while living an otherwise normal life caused serious psychological problems for a lot of the drone operators.)

It maybe that the airframe and armaments of an F-35 controlled from afar by a human being, not AI (or maybe a human being assisted by AI) would be a good addition to our arsenal.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

The future of warfare has always been transitioning to unmanned weaponry ever since the Germans launched the U2 over the skies of England.

It makes a lot of sense as it is less expensive and reduces risk of human life loss.

It will never totally replace piloted weaponry though, any more than EVs will replace ICE vehicles.