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
This report explains F-35 have no remote control nor kill switch, but depend on US companies for maintenance and parts.
Source : https://interestingengineering.com/military/f35-kill-switch-reports-debunked
Even if an F-35 operator disconnected from the larger Joint Strike Fighter program’s supply chains can keep some number of its jets flying for a period of time through spares on hand and cannibalization, those aircraft would have extremely degraded capabilities.
Source : https://www.twz.com/air/you-dont-need-a-kill-switch-to-hobble-exported-f-35s
Does anyone know of a FOSS F-35 alternative?
As an average Windows user, I feel like that shouldn’t be necessary. If you don’t want your F-35s remotely disabled, just go into the system settings and disable the cockpit personalization, DoD telemetry, flight control suggestions, and especially uncheck the “Help make America safer by sending usage and crash statistics to the Pentagon” box.
Of course you also need to double check after every system update to make sure that none of these settings ended up getting patched back on without notice, but for the average pilot, it couldn’t be more user friendly.
And remember, please try to press the OK button to send Microsoft your anonymous crash analytics before your F-35 smashes into the ground.
Give it a week and Arch users will have it running on the F-35
I believe it. Full Doom port on the avionics/helmet system by Week 2.
This is why you don’t buy US.
I guess the flip side of this is that the Americans are (presumably) actively training our military on the detailed operation and capabilities of the F-35. Could come in useful if things get bad. It’s one of those things that is mind-bending about the situation we are in
Beyond any “off switch”, you need permission on every flight for the “on switch”. Lockheed doesn’t even give US military manuals, and so only Lockheed consultants can maintain/repair the planes.
Beyond that, it is a horrible plane that is horribly expensive. Low flight time. Everyone in the world who approved buying any, is primafacie corrupt traitor, and straight to jail.
And out of curiousity… what’s to keep these other countries from swapping out the software and/or hardware that causes this? They bought it and the US can go pound sand. Am I saying it’s easy to do? No. But it’s not impossible and a far sight cheaper than buying all new planes from someone else.
