Expending Cybertrucks
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The U.S. Air Force is looking to buy two Tesla Cybertrucks for use as targets for precision munitions during testing and training. The service says it needs these vehicles for this purpose specifically because of the prospect of unspecified adversaries driving around in them in the future.
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“On 13 February 2025, market research was conducted to assess the competition for the Tesla Cybertruck by evaluating its design, materials, impact resistance, and innovative technologies. The study revealed that the Cybertruck’s aggressively angular and futuristic design, paired with its unpainted stainless steel exoskeleton, sets it apart from competitors typically using painted steel or aluminum bodies,” the justification document explains. “Additionally, its 48V electrical architecture provides superior power and efficiency, a feature that rivals are only beginning to develop. Extensive internet searches and industry outreach by [redacted] found no vehicles with features comparable to those of the Cybertruck.”
More importantly, “[redacted] intends to uses [sic] specific Tesla manufactured vehicles for target vehicle training flight test events. In the operating theatre it is likely the type of vehicles used by the enemy may transition to Tesla Cyber trucks [sic] as they have been found not to receive the normal extent of damage expected upon major impact,” it adds. “Testing needs to mirror real world situations. The intent of the training is to prep the units for operations by simulating scenarios as closely as possible to the real world situations.”
Why would any adversary want a Cybertruck, when the best case scenario is that Tesla will remotely disable the vehicle? The less best case scenario is that the fucker will break down, and unlike a Toyota Hilux you cannot repair a Cybertruck with bubble gum and baling wire. The best I can figure is that someone has suggested to the Air Force that Tesla needs to be bailed out of one of the most catastrophic product rollouts in automotive history, but that doesn’t really make sense either unless they plan to buy a lot more than two trucks to blow up. Andrew Collins:
That last paragraph is particularly eye-catching, especially since TWZ didn’t find any elaboration on what the Air Force meant by “operating theatre” in this context. The Cybertruck is currently only sold en masse in the United States and Mexico. Some have popped up in other corners of the world, and it is slated for sale in the Middle East this year (specifically Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar). But even after seeing Ramzan Kadyrov’s machine gun-equipped Cybertruck on CNN, the odds of encountering Cybertrucks as enemy combatant units on a field of battle seem low.
Is the US government gearing up to engage targets in the Erewhon parking lot by Venice Beach? Or just looking to conveniently take unsold CTs off Tesla’s hands?
I get the point about the vehicle’s design, love it or hate it, it’s undeniably unique-looking. But, in all seriousness, couldn’t the USAF get the same result by bolting some angled sheets of steel onto a golf cart or a trailer? If the Cybertrucks it needs don’t have to be running, I don’t see the practical difference between shooting at one of them versus a teepee of slanted steel. Or a dumpster.
It all seems a little sketchy, especially if the Air Force plans to acquire new six-figure Cybertrucks to blow up. If their procurement people are savvy enough to pull a couple out of a Copart salvage yard, then I guess it’s fine. But I’d still like to know more about why the military thinks it’s going to be shooting at these for real in the near future.
Photo credit: Flames rise from a Tesla Cybertruck after it exploded outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., January 1, 2025 in this screengrab taken from a social media video. Alcides Antunes/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. THIS PICTURE WAS PROCESSED BY REUTERS TO ENHANCE QUALITY. AN UNPROCESSED VERSION HAS BEEN PROVIDED SEPARATELY. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY