Musk "F-35 is trash...The Future of Drone War"

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk, who was named head of government efficiency for the second Trump term, has strongly criticized the F-35 fighter jet.

Musk said on his social media X account on the 25th local time, "The F-35 design had problems from the requirement stage, because it was required to meet too much."

He pointed out, "This has made the F-35 expensive and complex, capable of doing everything little by little, but not doing anything excellently."

"Success was not in the category of possible outcomes in the first place," Musk said, adding that it was difficult to expect a successful outcome from the F-35 from the outset.

This followed the criticism of the previous day.

On the previous day, he strongly criticized, "There are still idiotes who make manned fighter jets such as F-35s."

The F-35 is a 5th generation stealth multi-purpose fighter developed by Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense company.

It was introduced by countries such as South Korea, the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, and Israel, including the U.S. Department of Defense.

Musk has argued that the drone war is the future, saying Lockheed Martin's fighter jet is becoming a relic of the old era.

In particular, it has emphasized the introduction of fighter jets capable of autonomous manoeuvres while being remotely controlled by humans, targeting F-35s again after being nominated for the head of government efficiency.

While Musk is planning to cut the federal government's large-scale budget in the future, the comments are observed to be intended to cut the Pentagon's F-35-related costs significantly.

According to Bloomberg, the Pentagon's F-35-related costs this year were $485 billion, up 10% from last year.

The U.S. government has delivered about 1,000 to U.S. troops and allies, with a total of more than 3,000 F-35 fighter jets to be produced.

The F-35 fighter jet, which is expected to be operational by 2088 is estimated to cost more than $2 trillion in overall development and maintenance.

Musk had vowed before the presidential election that he could "reduce the federal budget by at least $2 trillion (KRW 2,800 trillion) by eradicating waste."