this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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36
No change in Danish plan to buy US F35 jets (www.thelocal.dk)
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Can't the US shut them down?

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The US clarified by saying "we can't... honest".

The maintenance contracts and parts are all US resources that could be switched off over night relegating your aircraft to a very heavy paperweight

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

relegating your aircraft to a very heavy paperweight

There's a bit more to this. It wouldn't immediately render the aircraft useless. It would just heavily restrict its usage and capabilities in the long term.

Iran still has US made fighter jets from the '70s, most notably the Tomcat and the Phantom. They've managed to keep at least some of them operational despite the lack of spare parts by cannibalizing parts from other aircraft and keeping flying hours low to reduce maintenance. The Iranians tried to reverse engineer a lot of parts with limited success which is why they're so desperate to get their hands on more Russian jets like the Su-35.

The key difference between Iran and Europe is that we actually have a strong military industrial complex and experience in manufacturing combat aircraft. As such we would be able to switch to domestic aircraft especially since there's already a stealth fighter project in development between France, Spain and Germany.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Alright, that is a bit uplifting.

I have one more skeptical comment/question: I would imagine the difference between 70s and now is that the new aircrafts have some digital component to them. And that the US could ensure they can use the digital part to "turn the aircraft off" for their "national security". I have a very limited knowledge on the subject, so maybe this is all inspirational thinking...

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

And that the US could ensure they can use the digital part to "turn the aircraft off" for their "national security".

No, they can't shut the software off for everyone by turning off a switch. No military in the world would ever touch that aicraft if that was the case. It is true that the F35 runs on American software (except for the Israeli variant) and that for optimal performance it requires updates that are developed by the US. But the jets aren't connected to a network in order for the US to send a malware type update to compromise the system. The updates need to be manually reviewed and installed. It's not like how Google sends out automatic updates for Android that pop up in your notification bar. That's a security risk that could be exploited by enemy agents.

And while the US can't brick the aircraft from the other side of the ocean, it can stop providing updates to the system. It would drastically reduce the aircraft's capabilities in the long term, but it would still be operational provided it has the proper maintenance. It just wouldn't be that good. To put it into crude terms, think of two gaming pcs owned by you and your friend. Both of them are top of the line and both of them can only run Windows. For whatever reason you upset Bill Gates and he refuses to send you anymore updates for your Windows and doesn't want to sell you a newer OS. Your computer works fine it's just that you can't do certain things on it because you're running Windows 7 while your buddy is running Windows 11. Might not be the best example, but that should give you an ideea.

Regardless we shouldn't stress about this. Like I've said, there's already a stealth fighter project in development at a European level and we have both the technical expertise and industrial capability to further develop. The only downside is that our stuff is more expensive since we lack the economies of scale the Americans have in the defense sector. But that can be easily solved through joint borrowing and increased investment which is what we're currently doing. The only losers here will be American defense companies that will see their sales to Europe decline as we shift to domestic alternatives.

Ironically enough Trump might be the best thing that happened for Europe since the formation of the EU. By trying to make America great again through his constant bullying tactics he is not only making America worse, but he is also making Europe great again by forcing us to loosen our ties with the US and invest in our own industries. Through sheer incompetence and ignorance that chucklenut is paving the way for us to become a superpower that can challenge US dominance over the globe.