The future is unmanned Fri, Apr 23 2021 14:12 IST | 4 Views 4 US surveillance planes fly over Korean Peninsula on same day. Image Source: IANS News The manned fighter aircraft is dead! The Air Warfare Symposium, conducted by the US Air Force Association on 27 and 28 February, 2020, may go down in history as an event where history was foretold. It was here, on the morning of 28 February, 2020, that Elon Musk, the quintessential disruptor, set the cat among the pigeons. In a room overflowing with Air Force personnel, many fighter pilots among them, Musk famously predicted the end of the manned fighter aircraft. Much consternation followed, and copious amounts of newsprint was invested in the counter-narrative that flowed, mainly from the US Air Force and its veterans. Notably, much of the criticism of Musk's proclamation was aimed at targeting him personally as a 'head-line grabber', rather than to disprove his assertion through solid logic and evidence. This is probably indicative of the fact that Musk's prediction may hold more than a modicum of truth.