this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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Summary

European nations refute claims that the U.S. has a "kill switch" for F-35 fighter jets, despite concerns raised after Trump suspended military aid and intelligence support to Ukraine.

While no evidence confirms such a switch, experts warn the U.S. could limit access to crucial software updates.

Belgium and Switzerland assert their F-35s remain autonomous but acknowledge reliance on U.S. data systems.

Set to receive 35 F-35s in 2026, some German politicians are questioning whether the purchase should have been made amid these concerns.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Whether or not a “kill switch” exists is frankly rather immaterial. The fact remains that we control a LOT of the essential tech that goes into those things, and considering we’re basically turning into an adversary towards most of our former allies, it’s not a super great idea to have us be a core part of your logistics pipeline - especially when it comes to one of your most advanced strike fighter.

Sure, it’s great tech… but what happens when Trump decides in 6 months to stop shipping engines and engine parts and software updates and encryption keys and the myriad of little doodads that go into the thing? That’s right: it’ll stop working quite as well as it’s designed to, and ultimately will need to be grounded until operators can find a side-channel to get the things it needs (or replacement/aftermarket parts + software, though frankly I don’t think the second part is feasible, knowing the ludicrous size of the codebase that is absolutely for sure NOT something that can be easily or quickly replicated).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

but what happens when Trump decides in 6 months to stop shipping engines and engine parts and software updates and encryption keys

Soon we'll return to what was when Microsoft had a separate Windows NT 4 High Encryption release

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