Elon Musk has lengthy bragged that the Tesla Cybertruck is a uniquely impervious car because of its stainless-steel physique and “bulletproof” home windows, calling it “an armored personnel service from the long run.” Now that declare shall be put to the check by none aside from the US Air Drive, which goals to make use of the Cybertruck for some goal follow.
In paperwork uncovered by a publication called The War Zone (nice title, btw), the Air Drive says it desires to purchase two Cybertrucks for “goal car coaching flight check occasions.” The explanation given is that America’s adversaries might search to make use of the Cybertruck for navy functions in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later, and the Air Drive desires to see if it will possibly blow them up.
Within the working theatre ti is probably going the kind of automobiles utilized by the enemy could transition to Tesla Cyber vans as they’ve been discovered not ot obtain the traditional extent of injury anticipated upon main impression. Testing wants ot mirror actual world conditions. The intent of the coaching is to prep the models for operations by simulating eventualities as carefully as potential ot the actual world conditions.
The Cybertrucks had been requested as a part of a batch of 33 automobiles, together with sedans, pickups, SUVs, and bongo vans, that the Air Drive desires to make use of for goal follow on the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The Cybertruck was the brand-specific car to be cited within the paperwork, which speaks to the navy’s considerations about its potential as a enemy car.
The Air Drive cited a few of the distinctive traits of the Cybertruck within the paperwork outlining its procurement request, together with the automobiles’ “stainless-steel exoskeleton” and its 48V electrical structure.
In fact, Musk himself has ruminated previously concerning the Cybertruck’s potential as a navy car. According to Electrek, the controversial billionaire introduced up the truck at an Air Drive House Pitch Day occasion in San Francisco in 2019. And earlier this 12 months, the US Division of State included an order for $400 million worth of armored Teslas in its 2025 procurement forecast — which many took to be an order for Cybertrucks, particularly. The vans had been stated to be into consideration as armored personnel carriers for US diplomats, NPR reported.
However since then, hype across the Cybertruck has cooled significantly. Although Musk had predicted he would be capable of promote over 500,000 Cybertrucks yearly, Tesla only sold less than 50,000 last year. And due to Tesla’s — and Musk’s — ensuing model disaster, its beginning to appear like gross sales of the Cybertruck are more likely to fall even additional.
However hey, if the Air Drive goes by with its buy, that’s two extra vans on the ledger for the corporate. And if the truck blows up very nice, there could possibly be extra of a future for the Cybertruck as navy goal. Possibly the Navy would wish to check Musk’s claims about the Cybertruck’s amphibiousness earlier than launching a number of torpedos at it.