this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
204 points (99.5% liked)

World News

43863 readers
3369 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] mkwt@lemmy.world 0 points 3 days ago (2 children)

F35 is a major maintenance time sink. Something on the order of 10 mechanic-hours of maintenance for every flight hour. I've heard it costs something like 12k USD in maintenance just to start the engine and bring it to low idle.

I suspect it would take a lot less than six months to ground a fleet when the spare parts get cut off.

[–] dlatch@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

Spare parts are being manufactured in Europe too though. There's a big maintenance hub in The Netherlands and Italy is producing complete F35s. I'm sure Europe can figure it out ~~if~~ when the US goes completely off the rails.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

My understanding is that it's because it's new and they haven't optimized repair workflows yet (or hadn't at the time all that reporting was being done).