Summary

Lockheed Martin UK’s chief, Paul Livingston, defended the F-35 stealth jet program after Elon Musk called it obsolete due to advances in unmanned drones.

Livingston emphasized the F-35’s unmatched capabilities, including stealth, battlefield data-sharing, and cost-efficiency by replacing multiple aircraft types.

While Musk labeled the program overly expensive and poorly designed, Livingston argued drones alone can’t match the F-35’s capabilities or defend against threats like China’s J20 jets.

Despite criticism over cost and reliability, the F-35 remains integral to NATO defenses, with widespread adoption across 19 nations, including the UK.

  • EndlessApollo@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The broken clock strikes (but actually not really, the idea that drones can entirely replace all manned aircraft in the near future is kinda ridiculous. He just happens to be right about the F-35 being bad lol)

    • EndlessApollo@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Instead of downvoting me, why not prove me wrong? Why not post some evidence of how it’s actually not super unreliable and overpriced? Wasting time and energy defending the air force’s biggest waste of money isn’t actually going to do anything good

      • atzanteol
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        2 days ago

        Instead of downvoting me, why not prove me wrong?

        You ever consider that it’s not worth it? Kinda like wrestling a pig in mud - you end up filthy and at some point realize the pig is enjoying it.

        But speaking of pigs…

        https://youtu.be/xxVsS9ZNUOU?si=iqiauZKExOBZ3AZh

      • kautau@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Because he never talked about the f-35 program costs up to this point, you brought that up. he’s just claiming with no basis that we can build networked drones to replace the whole program and they’ll be cheaper and perform better than trained pilots, which at our current stage of tech is asinine

        • EndlessApollo@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          That’s literally exactly what I just said. That doesn’t mean the F-35 program isn’t stupid, it’s just funny that elon is finally right about one (1) thing, even if for stupid reasons