L’F-35 ‘Kill Switch’: separazione del mito dalla realtà
di Downtown-Act-590
L’F-35 ‘Kill Switch’: separazione del mito dalla realtà
di Downtown-Act-590
40 commenti
After a number of slightly misleading articles in European media, there is finally something from military aviation journalists with a decent track record. I believe that it clears the picture really well.
Nice try Pentagon….and why only Israel makes an exception?!?!
If you can hack the seat heating in a BMW, you can certainly do the same with this thing.
Tldr dont buy american weapons unless you are israel. Otherwise, the americans will make the weapons unusable if their russian owners give them the command (and probably a treat, good doggies need treats to be obedient)
There may not be a literal kill switch but there are plenty of ways they can cripple European F-35s, such as not providing software updates. A European nation that doesn’t switch to Rafales at this point is a fool of a nation. Why would you continue to use the enemy’s fighters ? Buy Rafale !
Ah, okay…so the author’s point is that relying on the U.S. for the F35 isn’t a huge additional vulnerability because most NATO countries already depend on the U.S. for things like targeting, comms, ISR, and munitions. But if you care about autonomy and sovereignty, the F-35 *is* a strategic vulnerability compared to something like the Rafale. The F-35 gives you cutting-edge tech, but you’re dependent on U.S. software updates, mission data files, and policy restrictions. No kill switch needed…the U.S. controls the digital leash. Rafale isn’t as stealthy, but you own it completely. It’s full independence vs. conditional superiority.
To put it simply, if you’re Denmark or Canada and you want to protect your sovereignty, you should probably look at fixing *all* your strategic dependencies—including the F35.
And ask yourself; why did Israel insist on having its own independent F-35 system, the *only* country allowed to do so? Because they understand that operational sovereignty isn’t optional when your national security depends on it.
The basic point is that you never want to be in a position where your supply chain for critical infrastructure or defence capabilities is dependent on someone you may end up in conflict with. If you want to avoid having your foreign policy dictated by your supply chain, build local.
So the US can cut off support for US made software and hardware. Whilst cut off of US support, the jets still can fly and shoot and do what they are ment to do. Untill something breaks.
A soft PR article from Lockmart. If US government required Cisco to leave a software backdoor in their own network (salt typhoon), do you think there will be a chance that no backdoor on F-35 for a foreign government? Acknowledge it, and use the weapons from EU instead.
There’s definitely no remote “kill switch” as that’d leave it open to a cyberattack.
The main issue is with replacement parts, though seeing how there was a degree of collaboration with many foreign engineers being allowed to work on the F35, I don’t see why Europe wouldn’t be able to find a way to make those parts themselves after a time.
Though even then, getting cut off from the F35’s upgrades and engineers would suck for anyone who is in possession of F35 jets. So way to go with ruining our alliances Trump.
The US made the HIMARS rockets worthless without a “kill switch”, they just removed aiming.
The US crippled F16s radar jammers in Ukraine.
They already did that. No ifs, no maybes.
How the fuck people still think they cant cripple the F35?
Yes, they cant stop the engines midflight (i hope) but how much interference you allow in these super expensive tech for your defence?
Why should als country buy gen5 planes a irresponsible man child can cripple to gen3 if he feels like it?
Only invest in Europes defense industry. We have to be able to become independent in thar sector.
The critical thing about fighter aircraft is, they are the first line of defence. Fighters not getting off the ground at the start of any hot hostilities would have an enormous cost for the defender, starting from the fighters themselves getting bombed out of the existence on the ground.
Such a glitch happening could even have elements of plausible deniability in the part of the US. “It was just a software bug.”
Codex version of F-35 when?
Yeah, it isn’t an issue, until the Americans decide they don’t want you to use your plane the way you want and ground it remotely.
The reality is this: any U.S. made equipment will be bricked, inoperable or unmaintainable in a conflict with Russia, our only plausible adversary. It’s all completely useless.
Buy Swedish SAAB Gripen instead.
Yes, the US Government applies a kill switch on their military hardware exported abroad.
Confrmed by the ex PM of Malaysia.
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/malaysian-prime-minister-mahathir-claims-american-fighters-are-only-useful-for-airshows-why-f-18s-can-t-fight-without-washington-s-permission
No, there isn’t literally a big red button which reads TURN OFF F-35 under Trump’s desk (or is there?), this response is simply bad faith literalism like was common back in the heyday of fact checking when some statement like “x beat the shit out of y” would be rated 5 Pinocchios on the Pants On Fire Liar Scale with the reasoning that while x did brutally physically assault y, literal shit never left y’s body as a result.
The fact is that any modern military equipment that is large enough to no longer be man-portable is so maintenance-intensive that there is an inherent kill switch to all of it, in that the supplier can simply stop the flow of parts and maintenance, turning whatever it is into the world’s most dangerous paper weight in record time.
Iran’s F-14s didn’t have kill switches in them, yet you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who would consider them seriously air-worthy beyond the absolute minimum needed for the most basic tasks.
Misleading Article. David Cenciotti utterly torpedoes his own credibilty by attempting to argue semantics around the word kill-swtich.
And also hilariously he explains in his own article how the US has a functional kill-switch with ALIS. Something required for routine operations, entirely hosted on US servers, able to be shut off at their discretion. Not a kill switch though!
Facts remain that F-35 operators(except Israel) rely entirely on the Pentagons approval or they dont have the ability to defend their own skies.
Trumps in a bad mood on the day Putin attacks? Sorry, your airforce has no ability to stop Iskanders from raining down on your schools, hospitals and shopping centres because they cant even do basic mission planning without US software access.
But dont worry, theres no actual “kill-switch”, only critical systems and entire logistic chains set up to function as such.
The much bigger issue here is the lack of trust in a former allie. The US has become unpredictable, this has a huge impact not just on the relationship but also ich on any business decision. You don’t invest millions in someone who you can’t rely on, who’s next move you can’t anticipate. Especially when there is rumors floating about that they could be acting as a Russian pawn.
Queue the sell off of USA defence company stocks
Can’t we just reverse that shit?
The US could also hack and remote control the F35, I assume?
It’s is true that all countries except for USA and UK need a new code everyday to start the plane
Remember the French have a habit of supplying weapons and denying that a kill switch exists. The Falklands war had 2 or 3 British ships sunk by French supplied Exocet missiles. The British asked the French to deploy the kill switches but the French denied they existed despite credible evidence to the contrary.
So even if a country buys French they are potentially swapping one kill switch for another.
You need to understand your whole ecosystem to understand how badly you are affected. Problem is without pulling the whole thing apart including the software and everything else that it uses like GPS etc you just won’t know if you’ve not made it yourself. This is why France is in the best situation they’ve always remained a far higher degree of independence from the US.
So I’m curious. What are you going to do with the F-35s then? Throw them away? It’s the only 5th gen aircraft Europe has access to and they already have several of them.
If it doesn’t have a kill switch it is very simple add one.
Because software in these aircraft has to be kept up to date and kill switch can be added in one of the updates. without anybody noticing.
The FCAS/GCAP programs need to be sped up, and now, not tomorrow. Europe also needs to develop new or improve European ECM capabilities, new long range SAMs, its satellite communications and reconnaissance and things like jet engines. Europe also seriously needs to integrate Ukrainian tactics and drone expertise. The Ukrainians are currently by far the most experienced army at modern warfare and no one can field rapid adaptions as quickly and cheaply as they can.
Trump is going to destroy a lot of American wealth and jobs. He should be in jail right now.
Israel gutted all avionics on their f35s. They did this for what reason? Why would they add considerable cost to the most expensive fighter jet for no good reason?
Doesn’t need a kill switch. Just restrict access to the spares system (some parts are replaced quite frequently) and job done.
There’s no kill switch but there may be a 20 minute software update on start up
sorry, but you did not understand the problem at all. the kill switch is not the problem, whatever technology it is. the fact that trump take away infromation from the ucraine is the problem. the fact that somebody trustunworthy like elon musk controlling star link and talking about him being able to take it away from the ukraine is the problem. in a worldwide business there is one thing you shall never lose and that is the trust of your customers. the us military industry lost this trust because of an incompetent president. and getting it back will cost a lot of money, jobs and time!
Statements are patient. Trust is non-negotiatable.
The USA will have an action plan and strategy on how to basically activate „a kill switch“ to either make weapons less efficient or even useless and will not hesitate to prioritize a beneficial deal before human lives. The Ukraine has payed the price already.
You cannot just hope that an erratic looney‘s daily humour is not going to affect your continents defense strength.
US can’t be trusted. We are not an ally any longer. Good luck my friends.
I appreciate the Eurofighter Typhoon is only a 4.5 generation fighter, but it is a highly agile dog fighter and an air superiority aircraft with secondary ground strike capabilities. Until Europe has time to develop its own 5th Generation fighter, surely ramping up production of the Euro fighter would be a great idea in the interim. Supplying them directly to Ukraine would be an even better idea in the short term.
Can we tinker it? I’m not tech savvy, I stumble over the wireless internet. But is it possible to root them out?
A factor that is often forgotten in the US is that approximately 25% of F-35 parts are made by US allies.
Yes, that’s right. The US can definitely make maintenance and repairs on F-35s impossible, but Europe can hurt the US’s F-35s, too.
The UK makes approximately 15% of the parts that go into the F-35, including electronics, rear fuselage and ejection seats.
Denmark contributes to radar electronics, composites and air-to-ground pylons.
The Netherlands contributes flaperons, arresting gear, and electrical wing and interconnection systems.
Italy contributes to final assembly and QA checks.
It’s two people standing in a room with loaded guns, aimed at each other. It didn’t used to be. It used to be two friends, casually having a chat as they built their Lego set, making jokes.
The US’s fall in grace in terms of its Atlantic alliances actively damages both European security, and, ironically, American security.
However, there is no other option for Europe in terms of 5th Gen fighters, so I suspect that there will be some begrudging cooperation for the next few years. There are currently 3 different 6th Gen projects underway in Europe, so the goal will be to detach its air superiority role from the US over the next decade or two.