Unmanned aircraft are the future of warfare, the tech mogul believes
American tech mogul Elon Musk has warned that battles of the future will be fought between masses of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have already emerged as one of the most prominent weapons in the Ukraine conflict.
Musk’s comment came in a discussion on X (formerly Twitter) begun by Bloomberg writer Ashlee Vance on Monday, who wrote that America’s drone manufacturing capacity is dwarfed by that of China.
“Drone swarm battles are coming that will boggle the mind,” Musk wrote in a thread, without elaborating further.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX previously warned on numerous occasions that drones represent the future of warfare. Commenting on X in June on the use of drones by Ukraine, Musk stated that “future wars are drone wars.”
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in London last year, Musk said that “any future wars between advanced countries, or at least countries with drone capability, will be very much the drone wars.”
During the Ukraine conflict, the Russian military has actively used kamikaze drones on the battlefield to destroy enemy personnel and equipment. Kiev’s forces have also used UAVs to strike targets, including those of a civilian nature, within Russia.
Kiev and its Western backers have long claimed that China has been supplying military drone technology to Russia, something that Beijing has denied.
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According to reports in US media earlier this year, Washington supplied Ukraine with drones during the early days of the conflict, but their high cost compelled Kiev to increasingly turn to Chinese-made UAVs.
