The nation faces the danger of main defeat in future conflicts with out fast reforms to outdated weapons applications, the tech billionaire has warned
The US dangers main defeat within the nation’s subsequent conflict until it urgently reforms its outdated weapons applications, Elon Musk has warned in a stark evaluation of the nation’s protection capabilities.
Musk, who heads SpaceX and Tesla, has been appointed as a “particular authorities worker” to steer the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) beneath US President Donald Trump and is now amongst his key advisers.
“American weapons applications must be utterly redone. The present technique is to construct a small variety of weapons at a excessive value to combat yesterday’s conflict. Except there are fast and dramatic modifications made, America will lose the following conflict very badly,” Musk wrote on X.
The billionaire has lengthy been a vocal critic of inefficiencies inside the US protection sector, arguing that extreme paperwork and outdated army methods undermine nationwide safety.
Musk’s DOGE division has actively labored to streamline federal operations, together with these associated to protection. Common Atomics Aeronautical Methods, the maker of the Predator drone, has urged DOGE to reform the Pentagon’s contracting system, calling the present course of too gradual and bureaucratic to counter threats from nations similar to China and Iran.
L3Harris Applied sciences, a serious protection contractor, has supplied DOGE with suggestions to enhance effectivity within the protection acquisition system. These embody eliminating duplicative Value Accounting Normal necessities and establishing a central contracting arm inside the Workplace of the Secretary of Protection to handle joint procurement applications.
DOGE has already canceled roughly $420 million in authorities contracts inside its first 80 hours of operations, taking preliminary steps towards an bold objective of decreasing federal spending by $2 trillion.
Musk’s critique additionally extends to particular protection applications. He has been notably damning of the F-35 fighter jet program, labeling it a “sh*t design” and advocating for a shift towards unmanned techniques, which he believes are simpler and economical in fashionable fight.
Talking at the US Navy Academy in West Level, New York in February, Musk emphasised the transformative influence of drones and synthetic intelligence (AI) on warfare, citing the Ukraine battle as a chief instance.
“The present conflict in Ukraine may be very a lot a drone conflict already,” Musk famous. “If there’s a serious energy conflict, it’s very a lot going to be a drone conflict.” He known as for elevated funding in drone manufacturing and a big acceleration in manufacturing, warning in opposition to the pitfalls of getting ready for previous conflicts as a substitute of future ones. “Nations just about are geared as much as combat the final conflict, not the following conflict,” Musk cautioned.
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