NonCredibleDefense

Well, no but actually yes. See the countless videos of people in Ukraine flying a DJI into a Russian airbase and just dropping fucking grenades on planes.

Also, consider:

• We already have military drones that are practically fully automated, and we had our first fully autonomous kill decision five years ago now.

• DARPA did some tests with an AI piloted fighter jet in 2022, it successfully killed all human enemy jets 5/5 times.

• The weakest part of an air superiority platform is the squishy meatbag flying it. Without having to worry about keeping a human alive, you can make air superiority fighters that are vastly more capable with high-g maneuvering and more compact air frames.

Now, Elon's not talking about air superiority drones, he's talking about drone swarms. Drone swarms ARE a real threat, but AFAIK they're more of an infrastructure threat in that they're usually worried about in the context of disabling ships, airports, etc. not individual fighter jets. For that, you get Vadim to tie a grenade to his DJI.

The documentary piece called Ace Combat 7 told me that jets would win.

But how do you get the crewed aircraft to hold still long enough?

Elon is just dishing out the same Russian talking points as Pierre Sprey. Updated to acknowledge Ukraine. High tech weapons could never defeat Russian ingenuity.

Of course they want to talk about the massive impact of drones! Distracts from the abysmal performance of Russia's military. If these grifters were actually just neutral observers amused at military incompetence, they don't have to look to the future. Aug'22 has enough unforced error anecdotes to last a lifetime.

How many feet in a mile?

Clearly at speed or altitude the aircraft should be safe, but it is vulnerable on the ground, at take off and landing. Obviously there are counter measures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-65591023

There is a lot more improvement that can be made to drones (Coordination, guidance, speed, etc) and advancement in battery technology seems fairly inevitable

Just pointing out that one mile is 5,280 feet, which is about 24,720' short of 30,000'. The fastest commercially available drones are around 80mph, which makes them about 1140mph slower than an F-35.

Oh, and how are they going to scramble their drone swarm in the first place if they can't detect the F-35?