Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, speaks with US Air Force Lieutenant General John Thompson, commander Space and Missile Systems Center commander at Space Pitch Day in San Francisco, California.
ORLANDO, Fla., — Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk predicted Friday that the future of war would be carried out by autonomous drones and not by legacy aircraft.
"The fighter jet era has passed," Musk said during a fireside chat with U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John Thompson at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida.
Musk also said that Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet, which is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons system, should have a competitor.
"The competitor should be a drone fighter plane that's remote-controlled by a human, but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy.
A U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter approaches at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr. »