“The countries that do not manufacture their own drones will be vassal states”

Elon Musk has put his cards on the table with A lapidary phrase: “We better discover how to build drones quickly or we will be doomed to be a vassal state.” Only China manufactures scale drones. And a certain electric car company could supply that need.

The harsh reality. “The United States cannot currently manufacture its own drones,” said Musk At a results conference of Tesla. At first glance, it seems a classic exaggeration of the entrepreneur. American military suppliers such as Aerovironment (manufacturer of the Switchblade-600) or General Atomics (creator of the MQ-9 Reaper) design and produce drones. However, Musk does not refer to the ability to design these unmanned ships, but to the scale production and independence of the supply chain.

In this sense, China’s dependence is overwhelming. Not only by the United States. China controls between 70 and 80% of the world market for commercial drones, which They are actively used in the Ukraine War. And critical components such as batteries, chips, cameras and engines come mostly from China. “China manufactures more drones on a day than the United States in a whole year,” Musk said.

A 9 billion market. But Musk’s warning is not just a patriotic outburst, it also has a business reading. According to a Morgan Stanley reportthe drone and Evtols sector could reach a value of 9 billion dollars from here to 2050. It is a cake too large for the South African businessman not wanting a piece.

The movement would charge special relevance at the current time of Tesla. The company recorded a drop of 71% of its net benefits during the first quarter of 2025, with a 52% sales collapse in a single month. The incipient deployment of robotaxis does not seem enough to convince shareholders, and bet on such a large market could be the solution.

The pieces fit perfectly. Tesla already develops advanced robotics with humanoid robot optimus and autonomous systems such as autonomous computer -based computer driving. Spacex, your sister company, closes the circle with an unmatched knowledge of the aerospace sector.

Musk itself showed the movement in the call to investors, speaking about Tesla’s future: “The future of the company is based primarily on large -scale autonomous cars and on a vast number of autonomous humanoid robots.” Drones fit as a glove in this vision of “robots with affordable artificial intelligence.”

The pentagon is knocking on the door. China’s geostrategic dependence has not gone unnoticed in Washington. The pentagon has launched the “Replicator” initiativea 1 billion program to deploy thousands of military drones, selecting the Switchblade-600 Aerovironment as its first public purchase.

In parallel, the Department of Defense has promoted a reform to eliminate the bureaucracy and achieve the “domain of UAS” by 2027. The message is clear: the United States shares Musk’s concern and is trying to recover the lost terrain to forced marches. Musk’s statement about the “Vasallos states” is, say, a play for several bands.

Image | Flickr (DVIDS)

In Xataka | China conquered us with its cheap drones. Now the price of its pieces is shooting for a reason that is not accidental