Elon Musk has been urged by a US defence contractor to help remove competitive advantages held by Turkish, Israeli and Chinese drone manufacturers in world sales.

Linden Blue, CEO at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI), wrote to Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur lately appointed by the Trump administration as co-head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a temporary organisation tasked with streamlining federal government efficiency and tackling wasteful spending.

Turkey’s state-run newswire Anadolu Agency on January 28 cited Blue as stating in his letter: "Within GA-ASI’s own export market, poor US Government (USG) policy and sluggish bureaucratic decision-making has opened the door for competitors like China, Turkey, and Israel to win important international customers.

"Sales lost to these competitors while we waited on some USG action means less funding available for re-investment into R&D and modernized manufacturing infrastructure. Bold leadership is needed. Past reform efforts, often supervised by the very organizations most in need of reform, have failed. DOGE has the potential to drive meaningful change, and we are ready to help where we can."

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems makes the Predator drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

L3Harris Technologies, another US firm that is one of the world's biggest defence contractors, earlier this month called on DOGE to reform the Pentagon's contracting system.

Turkey dominates 65% of the global drone export market, according to US-based think tank Center for a New American Security.

Turkish company Baykar alone is said to hold nearly 60% of the market – three times the size held by its closest US competitor.

Baykar’s Bayraktar TB2 combat drones have gained global prominence from use in the Ukraine war, as well as in military campaigns waged by Azerbaijan and regimes in Africa.

The Bayraktar TB2 is in fact the most-exported combat drone in the world, according to its maker. Baykar is also manufacturing heavy Akinci drones, while it is developing the Kizilelma, Turkey’s first unmanned fighter jet.

Its Bayraktar TB3 drone has been designed to serve on Turkey’s first mini-aircraft carrier.

Israeli combat drones have also been used in battle by Azerbaijan, while they have proved lethal in the Gaza conflict with Hamas and the fighting in Lebanon with Hezbollah.