this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
415 points (99.5% liked)

Technology

81534 readers
4404 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

A widespread concern is what would happen to Dutch weapon systems if the Americans were to withdraw completely as an ally. For example, Dutch F-35 aircraft are dependent on American software updates. Yet, Tuinman isn't particularly worried about this.

"The F-35 is truly a shared product. The British make the Rolls-Royce engines, and the Americans simply need them too." And even if this mutual dependency doesn't result in software updates, the F-35, in its current state, is still a better aircraft than other types of fighters.

If you still want to upgrade despite everything, I'm going to say something I should never say, but I will anyway: you can jailbreak an F-35 just like an iPhone. (Crack it with your own software, ed.)

(page 2) 36 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] sepi@piefed.social 4 points 20 hours ago

Nah bro. Just run clawedbot on the thing and sell the compute on it. Imagine a server farm made of f35s making the most devastating memes with gemini bananas

[–] sepiroth154@feddit.nl 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Hey Tuinman, congrats on having a bigger ego than sense of responsibility.

[–] chalupapocalypse@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago

Just open the fracking door for the cylons why don't you

[–] Overspark@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago

Relevant video: https://youtu.be/4X9ww6FtUhE

Tl;dw is that sure, the US could withhold software updates and sure, NL could do their own software thing, but there is a whole intelligence software thing too that makes it harder. And ultimately if the US stops supplying new parts the existing planes are quickly dead in the water anyway. So it's a short-term solution at best.

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Possible sure, easy unlikely, knowing you got all the backdoors (for allies), nigh impossible. Only way to be sure is to clean room it from the ground up, not jailbreak.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Plus it's strongly suspected, and rumoured, to have kill switches, a fusible link that bricks the whole thing. I believe it.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I mean every country that takes delivery of them gets to inspect it really closely. The "kill switch" is that they stop providing you the software for mission planning and shit.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you say so, don't say no one warned you.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago

Why wouldn't they?

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The F-35 mainly uses Pratt & Whitney engines; the RR engine is for the B variant. Although, 15% of every F-35 is designed and built in the UK.

[–] redditmademedoit@piefed.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Sounds more like an admission that there is something that needs jailbreaking in the first place

[–] hector@lemmy.today -2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Except the US has killswitches hard wired in. A fusible link, irreversibly bricking it based on signal from the mother ship.

[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 3 points 22 hours ago

Either you're talking confidently about something you couldn't possibly know, or you're risking the rest of your life in prison for leaking top-secret military info. Which is it?

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Where is the support for this? I believe they would but as I understand it they cut cloud services, not core functionality.

[–] hector@lemmy.today -1 points 1 day ago (5 children)

It is a long standing rumour. Not just in these in a lot of their gear. I believe it.

It's also rumoured, going way back over 20 years, that the us has kill switches in a majority of the world's computers.

[–] LesserAbe@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

Wow if its rumoured it must be true

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

I lean towards discounting both rumors. I think the temptation to use said kill-switches would prove too great to resist, particularly for the authoritarian types involved.

We saw this a lot with provisions of the "PATRIOT Act". It was championed as tools needed to combat terrorists and claimed to be reserved for such cases. In actuality, it was used to go after people running fan sites for sci-fi tv shows, among other things.

If such a kill switch existed in computer hardware, I'm sure it would have been used already. I'm less sure about a kill switch in the planes. On one hand, that's a pretty situational tool, and you wouldn't want to play that card until you really needed it.

OTOH, we didn't hear about threats to throw the kill switch during the bluster over Greenland. If they had one, I think it would have been part of that bluster.

[–] tidderuuf@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

I remember working with an old dude 10 years ago who pointed at the CPU in a computer and said "the government can turn that off whenever they want". He died of COVID so take his quote with what value you want.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

Meh, they are whores but they dont produce shit. They get your information through invasive NSA actions and capitalist acumbaggery.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 1 points 23 hours ago

Intel management engine strikes again

[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes, but it can be wired-out

[–] hector@lemmy.today 0 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The way I heard it, it's like hard wired it is thought, not like a part of the software per se, something physical in there they can trigger with a message that makes a circuit that bricks the unit.

We don't actually know though, I bet if someone did find out lockheed would have their head and the news wouldn't touch it.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›