Former F-15E Strike Eagle Weapons System Officer and editor of The Merge newsletter "Pako" Benitez rejoins Mooch to discuss Elon Musk's recent tweets calling the builders of the F-35 "idiots" and claiming that drone technology has made pilots unnecessary in future wars.

 

 

He needs to stick with what he knows: burning up electric cars 😉

 

1 hour ago, hs118 said:

He needs to stick with what he knows: burning up electric cars 😉

 

I'm sure he is smarter than you on the topic!

1 hour ago, hs118 said:

He needs to stick with what he knows: burning up electric cars 😉

 

He probably needs to fix his rapidly depreciating Teslas before talking down anyone else..... 🙃

I have asked when he was licensed to fly military jets, and what his qualifications were to make such ridiculous comments. Of course I've not gotten a reply back... 🤪

Leon initially promised an electric pickup truck with a 500 mile range priced at $40K and claimed that 1 million people put down $100 to be on a reservation list. They finally became available in November of 2023 and total sales are estimated at around 25,000 vehicles. Initially offered at $60K for rear wheel drive vehicles, at present they’re only selling 4 wheel drive vehicles for $100K-plus. https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/no-more-wait-time-for-tesla-cybertruck-1235807334/

If you want some laughs, go to the Reddit community r/CyberStuck for some examples of the “quality” of this vehicle. Leon shouldn’t be talking about other companies, but you got to wonder about the sanity of the people who shell out $100K-plus for this vehicle.

And how it looks: like a car made from LEGO pieces that’s been blown up to 25 times its original size.  
 

I finally saw one a few months ago that was parked for an hour across from where I live. In person, it looks worse.  I’m here to tell ya: that is one fugly vehicle 😵‍💫

 

 

Edited December 6, 20241 yr by Mike A
Extra word

Pot. Kettle. Black.

1 hour ago, Mike A said:

I finally saw one a few months ago that was parked for an hour across from where I live. In person, it looks worse.  I’m here to tell ya: that is one fugly vehicle 😵‍💫

I agree fully about the looks of this ridiculous monstrosity. 

Manned aircraft pilots do get killed.  From the J-3 to the F-35 flying can be a risky business.  Granted the more complex an aircraft is the greater the likelihood of crashing if a pilot give his aircraft his full attention.  But if you are going to criticize anything from a bicycle to an automobile to fighter aircraft it would be helpful if the critic had some experience in either one.

Noel

 

10 hours ago, Mike A said:

finally saw one a few months ago that was parked for an hour across from where I live. In person, it looks worse.  I’m here to tell ya: that is one fugly vehicle 😵‍💫

Too bad the A-10 already got the nickname 'warthog'.  Gonna have to find another one for the F-35.

Noel

10 hours ago, birdguy said:

Too bad the A-10 already got the nickname 'warthog'.  Gonna have to find another one for the F-35.

Noel

Apparently, the 'new' In Service Nickname is the "Panther".

However, I personally prefer its previous In Service Nickname... "Fat Amy".

In any event, E-llon should stay in his own Lane and stick with Automobiles... 🙄

Edited December 7, 20241 yr by ViperPilot

I am no Musk fan but even I have said this over the past 10 years, and even on this forum, Cheap and Nasty Search and Destroy Drones produced at a much higher production rate will make high tech weapons systems like the F35 obsolete. It is the same concept we saw back in WW2. At the start of WW2 the most advanced weapons system was the German U-Boat, they were stealth, they were high tech, very expensive and very slow to produce, and they posed the greatest threat, what beat them was the cheap and nasty Corvette's, produced at a fraction of the cost, at a much faster production rate, and much higher numbers, same goes for the Tiger Tanks vs the Sherman Tank, which was far inferior, but out produced the Tigers in production and over ran them on the battlefield, even though they were death traps.

F-35 is nothing more then what the U-Boats were at the start of WW2, they quickly became obsolete by finding their vulnerabilities, and so will be the fate of the F-35 as well.

Musk makes a good point, but this is nothing really new

Edited December 7, 20241 yr by Matthew Kane

6 hours ago, ViperPilot said:

E-llon

I like calling him Leon, I picked that up from r/CyberStuck that I cited above. They also call him Elmo. Since nicknames have been mentioned for planes, they also have a nickname over there for the CyberTruck: Wankpanzer 😆🤣😅

2 hours ago, Matthew Kane said:

I am no Musk fan but even I have said this over the past 10 years, and even on this forum, Cheap and Nasty Search and Destroy Drones produced at a much higher production rate will make high tech weapons systems like the F35 obsolete.

 

The drones can't be cheap and nasty though. They would have to be equipped with the same high tech sensors, sensor fusion with other drones, advanced communication and weapons systems, stealthy, etc. So not cheap, just no squidgy pilot to get squelchy. 

Such drones are already here, but Musk, as usual, gets his time frames ballsed up. Project forward 20 years and it might be the scenario.

Musk does some things I like and some things utterly dumb. His talent is seeing a need and getting it done. But paradoxically, when he steps out of his lane, it's reminiscent of the Dunning Kruger effect.

A while back he claimed he had a design for a VTOL electric, supersonic jet. 🙄 Electric, so I'm presuming ducted fans and ducted fans aren't jets, and haven't got the capability for supersonic flight or the altitude required to achieve that... unless he is a genius and I've missed something. 

On 12/6/2024 at 12:50 AM, hs118 said:

He needs to stick with what he knows: burning up electric cars 😉

 

 

Google it. Hybrids catch fire the most per capita. Then ICE, then a handful of BEV's. So know, not a valid comment.