But the logistical supply chains and software requirements of the jet make it impossible to operate without U.S. support.
The F-35 is a bestseller.
Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Israel, and several other countries have purchased the jet.
An Israeli F-35I.© IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
But Trumps election and his disruption of NATO and traditional treaty systems have been bad for business.
Carney is following the lead of Portugals defense minister who said something similar earlier this month.
Neither of them mentioned a kill switch, but the rumor began to circulate online in defense circles.
The rumor was loud enough for official people to issue official statements.
Lockheed Martin posted a copy of the statement on X.
There is no kill switchThe F-35 ‘kill switch’ rumor has been debunked.
Buying an F-35 is a lot like buying an iPhone or a Tesla.
When those machines break its hard to repair them without going back to the manufacturer.
So too with the F-35.
Weapons this advanced require a lot of maintenance and support.
When an F-35 breaks you cant just repair it on sight with what youve got lying around.
American contractors or American-trained contractors have to come in and take care of the problem.
As The War Zone put it:you dont need a kill switch to hobble exported F-35s.
Pieces of the jet are made in Texas, Italy, and Japan.
Lockheed Martin designed and sold the F-35 in an environment where many of these international relationships were rock solid.
One of the biggest problems with the F-35 is a software issue.
Its not just a matter of updating software, OSINT analyst Bill Sweetmansaid in a post on X.
The Mission Data File (MDF) is the electronic battle manual for the F-35.
It provides known target characteristics for the fusion engine that IDs targets with minimal emissions.
It contains threat emitter models that permit the aircraft to follow the minimum-detectability flightpath, the blue line track.
It runs comms, hosts the electronic order of battle.
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