this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025
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The US may be able to remotely disable F-35 aircraft (www.defensemirror.com)
submitted 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
47 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I haven't done adequate due diligence yet - could be inaccurate

I came across this article alleging that Germany is considering bailing on the F-35 aircraft because the US can remotely disable them.

If the US could do this to German F-35s, presumably they can do it to ours....

Additional reporting alleging concern in Canadian defence circles

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Would they be updated by sneakersnet, then? I guess that would make sense, but the only difference is that it would take slightly longer for data to arrive.

It is a negative issue, so the only thing to consider is how plausible it is. It would be easy for them to push a malicious update, I assume that's not in dispute?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Try to think about what you're actually describing. It's one year from now. Tensions between the US and Canada have steadily and rapidly escalated. US troops are massing on the Canadian border under the guise of "training exercises"... And some guy in the RCAF is like "Shit, better not forget to run that new firmware update that the Americans pushed for us, and absolutely no one else." Is that the scenario we're envisioning here?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

No, in that situation we just wouldn't do an update. I'd be more worried about a backdoor that's triggered by not updating for an extended period, maybe along along with a few other hints, and was actually made with the possibility of the Iranians capturing an F-35 in mind.

More like, it's a year from now and Trump decides to take his ball and go home, so he directs the NSA and DIA to build an update that will brick planes which aren't parked in one of his favoured countries, after a delay of about a month to ensure he gets as many as possible.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

At which point you would roll back to the previous firmware, because of course we're going to keep copies. This sounds like a horrifically ineffective plan. We're certainly better off having fifth gen fighters with that incredibly minimal risk attached than we are with fourth gen fighters that are completely outclassed.

And again, if we're at the point where potential hostilities are close enough that a one month timebomb could matter then we're at the point where we're not loading any software the US sends us.

The far more meaningful risk here is that they can simply stop giving us new parts and software updates. That's actually a real and valid concern.