Is that a stated fact that somewhere that the US can remotely disable the f35s?
While I understand that f35 needs constant maintenance, tooling and spareparts, which are bought from the orange man, is the remotely disabling part assessed somewhere? Because I find it unlikely that partners would buy f35s if so
They don’t have a killswitch (for what I know) but softwate is updated all the time, for example you’d update the soft after an enemy encounter, because you have new information about how the enemy now.
Not doing so “degrades” the capability quickly compared to a fully functional jet.
Also, all attack plans are uploaded to the pentagon so they know where when what you are intending to strike. A no no if you don’t trust them 100% ir you don’t trust they’re professional (like sharing warplanes on unprotected devices hrmmm).
So basically it’s a shit system for any European IMO.
And on top of that, the country that bought the spare parts doesn’t own them. They are owned by the manufacturer and are held on consignment where the F35s are. Australia recently had their inventory of spares plundered by the manufacturer at the request of the US government and sent to Israel. Australia found out the hard way that they actually own very little of the jets.
I wouldn’t use the term software update to describe those things though.
Nah, after every bombing run I pull out the ol usb-c cord and hook up my fighter jet to my laptop for a firmware update.
I mean, you need to charge the battery so you might as well update it while you’re doing that.
Yeah, it’s so awkward when you run out of battery during a tactical maneuver and you have to fly through enemy air space to borrow a power bank.
What term would you use? I’m fairly certain software is the correct term. Firmware? Drivers?
What the parent comment is describing appears to be downloading of data. Not a software update.
You’re not going to perform a software update after every single encounter with an enemy. You might upload/download data for analysis purposes, mission updates, etc. but you’re not going to actually update the software in such a situation.
How would you describe the upgrade of the software then?
The head of communications at Hensoldt says it’s more than just a rumour
It is rather unclear.
The mentioned maintenance and hardware is one aspect. Another one the software suite. Buyers like Germany and UK claim that sensor fusioning is processed in national clouds, but e.g. Bundeswehr heavily relies on American infrastructure.
So I guess in the end there doesn’t have to be explicit kill switch if you can starve out the maintenance or software support (e.g. updates or processing)
Ditto Canada. We’re already contractually obligated to buy something like 16 of them, but Grippens are the way to go for the remainder.
Building fighters in the age of drones feels like deciding we need a domestic battleship program.
Everyone knows trebuchets are the ultimate weapon and that everything else is overkill.
You can do anything with a trebuchet.
The fact that F-35s are built to do everything means no one knows what their exact uses are. From what I’ve seen recently it seems they’re only good as a stealth missile platform. Penetrate enemy air defenses and do a massive precision strike.
TBF, Russia and china’s focus on hyper-mobility and interception seems to be even more behind the curve.
What if we bought from China, just to scare the USA
No more money for toys for grown up problematic kids at all? Or you suggest to choose EU produced death-aircrafts like mirage or others (do we have others) ?
Have you not heard about the Eurofighter or the Gripen?
Or the Rafale, for that matter.
France has a habit of entering into pan-European programs to develop fighter jets, then demanding that most of the parts be made in France. Last time this led to France exiting the Eurofighter project and building the Rafale. This time it’s possible that Germany and Spain might leave the FCAS project and join the UK, Italy, and Japan in the GCAP project, which would lead to another exclusively French fighter.
Admittedly, the French are really good at building fighter aircraft. Their insistence on not sharing their expertise with the test of Europe is annoying, though.
Mirage 2000 is old. Like, 1980s vintage.
Modern ones are Rafale and EF Typhon. Those are completely made in France or Europe respectively.
Gripen E is mostly made in Sweden and Europe. But the engine is made in USA by GE.
Aircrafts and military vehicles ought to be outpaced pieces of technology, according to 80s demilitarising world expectations
