‘Elon Musk is a businessman’: IAF chief says man-platforms will stay relevant in wars despite drone surge

Responding to a question on Elon Musk’s assertion on the future of warfare, Indian Air Force Chief AP Singh said that the importance of manned missions is not going to fade away. Earlier this year, tech billionaire Elon Musk claimed that the future of warfare will be dominated by artificial intelligence and drones, insisting that manned missions would soon fade away.

During a press conference on Friday, the IAF chief disagreed with such an assessment. He admitted that while more and more automation and AI are coming in, there will be unmanned systems available. However, he maintained that those unmanned systems would have to work in collaboration with the manned system or have to be controlled by a man. “Relevance of fighters will remain”.

While specifically noting Musk’s argument, Singh said that Elon Musk is a “businessman”. “Musk will talk about it like that because he is running a business. His cars, you see, are there on the road. I am talking about just a simple car. But when it comes to war fighting, I don’t think my next generation will see it happen like that,” he said.

“Yes, we have to work towards unmanned systems because in certain areas you don’t have to risk human life, you need to have unmanned systems in certain areas where they can be ahead of your systems. So the work is on towards that,” he added.

What Musk said on the matter

India continues to focus on man-platforms, while the Ukraine war has made many believe that future wars will be fought by unmanned platforms. In this context, while speaking at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, Musk shared his insights on how modern conflicts are evolving.

“The current war in Ukraine is very much a drone war already,” said Musk. “If there’s a major power war, it’s very much going to be a drone war.” He went on to emphasise that the US should accelerate domestic drone production, warning that countries often prepare for past wars rather than future ones. “Countries pretty much are geared up to fight the last war, not the next war,” he averred.

He went on to point out that SpaceX played a critical role in global defence. The company’s satellite network has become indispensable for Ukraine’s military operations.

“Starlink is the backbone of the Ukrainian military communications system because it can’t be blocked by the Russians,” Musk said. “On the front lines, all the fibre connections are cut, the cell towers are blown up, the geostationary satellite links are jammed. The only thing that isn’t jammed is Starlink,” he added.