Interview: Paul Livingston hits back at the billionaire’s claim the fighter jets will soon be obsolete

Summary

Lockheed Martin UK’s chief, Paul Livingston, defended the F-35 stealth jet program after Elon Musk called it obsolete due to advances in unmanned drones.

Livingston emphasized the F-35’s unmatched capabilities, including stealth, battlefield data-sharing, and cost-efficiency by replacing multiple aircraft types.

While Musk labeled the program overly expensive and poorly designed, Livingston argued drones alone can’t match the F-35’s capabilities or defend against threats like China’s J20 jets.

Despite criticism over cost and reliability, the F-35 remains integral to NATO defenses, with widespread adoption across 19 nations, including the UK.

  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    151·
    2 days ago

    Please explain how the cost overruns on the development program have any bearing on the effectiveness of the finished product?

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      121·
      2 days ago

      Because anything you make with 1.7 trillion is going to look impressive unless you just throw all the money into barrels and just burn it?

      Excluding the context of astronomical amounts of money like that is fundamentally disgenous to any accurate description of reality.

      edit go on people, keep downvoting me to feel better because you don’t have an actual response, the jet looks cool and Musk is a pathetic loser with a billion dollars, but to admit the f35 is the same species of rot that the rise of oligarchs like Musk are an indicator of is too high a dose of reality for you :)