MILITARY TECHNOLOYU.S. Tech-Defense Leaders Want to Upend the Establishment
Elon Musk wants to cancel the F-35, get rid of manned combat aircraft generally and rely more on drones. But it was no surprise, however, even without Musk’s comments along those lines, that the US Air Force punted any decision on the Next Generation Air Dominance air-combat project to the next administration.
Elon Musk wants to cancel the F-35, get rid of manned combat aircraft generally and rely more on drones.
It was no surprise, even without Musk’s comments along those lines, that the US Air Force punted any decision on the Next Generation Air Dominance air-combat project to the next administration. Leadership been undecided about how to proceed and about the impact of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program upon requirements. And the incoming Trump administration has dialled the chaos to 11.
It is not just the nomination of the problematic Pete Hedgseth as secretary of defense. In the closing weeks of the presidential campaign, Musk emerged as a powerful support for Trump, and he has been constantly close to the president-elect since election. Trump has appointed Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy to run a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): its formal status remains uncertain but it can make its writ run via the Oval Office.
This followed the nomination of JD Vance as vice-president—less than two years after the author and venture capitalist was helped into the Senate by Peter Thiel, founder of data-analysis software firm Palantir and the major backer of defence-technology company Anduril.
The Tech Bros’ hold over the administration would look like a virtual coup even if Trump was an engaged and savvy leader. But Trump has no great reputation for deep understanding of technology.
The tech-defence community, centred around Musk, Thiel and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, have been clear about their intention to reboot the defence establishment—comprising the Department of Defense (DoD), armed services and industry—which they argue has ossified since the end of the Cold War and will be unable to match China.
At the end of October, Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar published 18 Theses for defense reformation. ‘Everyone, including the Russians and the Chinese, has given up on communism,’ Sankar writes, ‘except for Cuba and the DoD. The only problem is that we are bad commies.’
Sankar’s diagnosis is that consolidation has stifled innovation blocked vital change, while leading to poor performance on major programs such as F-35, KC-46 tanker and Sentinel nuclear ballistic missile. His prescription is to break up acquisition and hand it to combatant commands; end cost-plus contracting; and move away from pure-play defence primes to mixed commercial-defence enterprises—like Palantir and SpaceX.
Trump’s Tech Bros could change rules and divert cash from current programs to new systems.
