America needs drones and the F-35 to win the next war

The F-35 has had to develop a thick skin. From my former colleagues in Congress to defense-industry experts, the world’s premier fighter jet is accustomed to criticism for issues with cost, production and more. In November, though, one of America’s most influential voices decided to jump on the bandwagon: Elon Musk. 

Musk shared a video of a drone swarm with the caption, "Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35," and he included a trash-can emoji for good measure. 

You can imagine the pleasant surprise of the men and women who build the F-35, as well as the brilliant men and women who pilot it, when a drone-like swarm of voices came to their defense. As a former Co-Chair of the bipartisan House F-35 Caucus, I must admit I was proud to see our state-of-the-art aircraft get the support it deserves. 

NEW JERSEY MILITARY BASE CONFIRMS MULTIPLE DRONE CONTRABAND-SMUGGLING INCURSIONS THIS YEAR

Many people cited the recent, incredible success of the F-35 when Israel deployed them to destroy Iran’s Russian-made air defense systems. Others rightly noted that China has been unsuccessfully trying to mimic the American-made aircraft for years – our greatest adversary certainly wouldn’t invest so much time, money, and resources into something they didn’t believe was a game-changer. 

An F-35 fighter plane takes flight. (Luke Air Force Base / Senior Airman Alex Cook)

But I’m worried that two points – both of which are key to America’s national security – may be lost in translation during this X-based debate. 

The first point is that Musk has correctly identified an innovation that will change the trajectory of warfare. Autonomous, unmanned drones and artificial intelligence have already begun to shape the wars today and the future – just look at Iran’s unprecedented use of drones against Israel, or the recent AI-backed operation that targeted Maryland Democrat Sen. Ben Cardin. Fortunately, Israel defended itself against the vast majority of Iran’s drones and Cardin’s staff was able to protect him against a malign actor, but these technologies are only going to become more sophisticated.  

This is a reality that our military leaders can’t ignore and must plan to dominate – that means investing in new technologies, collaborating with our allies and embracing innovation in our national defense. 

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Those who came out in defense of the F-35’s unique capabilities are no doubt right to do so – still, I hope that doesn’t blind them to the larger truth in Musk’s post that we must continue to adapt and push forward. 

The second point is that if we aren’t smart about how we push forward new technologies and innovations, seeming progress can be masked behind realities that do more harm than good. As an example, one of the F-35’s critical limiting factors is ineffective thermal management. These systems manage the increased heat from the additional computing systems and capabilities that make our America-made fighter so unique. 

Which begs the question – if the F-35’s cooling systems are struggling right now to keep up with current tech, won’t adding new AI technologies make the problem even worse? The answer is yes. And we can’t afford to handicap one of the world’s greatest weapons in a well-intentioned effort to improve it. 

JPO recognizes this problem and is looking for new, permanent solutions in the right place: The private sector. The U.S. has the greatest military the world’s ever seen because of innovation and competition, and we’ll continue to dominate the world’s battlefields because of American innovation and competition. 

China is trying to copy our advanced aircraft technology. FILE: Two US Air Force F-35 jets and a Polish Air Force F-16 take part in a military parade in Warsaw on Polish Army Day, August 15, 2023, to commemorate the anniversary of the 1920 victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw during the Polish-Soviet War. (WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

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Musk was right. Drones and AI will shape the wars of the future. But it’s also true that the first step to dominating those future battlefields is looking at how we can maximize today’s weapons, like improving the F-35’s cooling system and subsequently increasing its technological capacity. That’s how you get smarter, stronger and faster on the battlefield: One step at a time. 

President-elect Donald Trump inherited a dangerous world, but he knows the path to a safer, stronger and freer America is an all-inclusive national security strategy. That means enhancing and investing in the F-35 and drones to best arm America’s warfighters – our brave men and women in uniform deserve no less. 

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