Comment on 'It's Possible to jailbreak F-35 like iPhone', Says Dutch State Secretary of Defense Tuinman

Emi@ani.social ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

• Humanius@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  The military wants the best equipment, and currently that is the American F-35.

  That comes with a dependence on the United States, and at the time of purchasing these jets that dependence was not considered to be a particular concern because America is a good ally and a part of NATO.

  Following Trump’s re-election and antics over Greenland, that calculation is now different. It might not be worth it to buy new F-35s at this point (though Germany seems to be considering it still), but the Dutch army has pre-existing F-35s which we should be able to use even if America doesn’t want us to for whatever reason.

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  • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    With F-35’s costs, is it really the best equipment? I suspect the real reason is that replacing it is a gigantic undertaking that might be far more expensive short-term.

    The components dependency part in fighter jets, though, is something they really should be able to solve. Those are very complex systems, but designed with integration and customization in mind. That’s one of the reasons they are so expensive. Slowly replacing everything in them with components from more reliable producers is normal for militaries. Well, for militaries with actual RnD and production, of course Uzbekistan or Colombia can’t do that, but Netherlands can.

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    • real_squids@sopuli.xyz ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      With F-35’s costs, is it really the best equipment?

      Name another stealth jet that you can buy right now in significant numbers.

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      • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Do Netherlands need a stealth jet at all? Perhaps a fleet of cheap drones is better.

        I mean, in some “global power projection” context like USA or thinking of readiness for total war like Israel, those jets are not optional.

        But the threat model of Netherlands is which? Considering it doesn’t even have mandatory military training.

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  • MITM0@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    You call F35 the best ? The thing cannot fly well on a rainy day & it has shit landing-gear.

    Get Sukhois, Eurofighter, Migs or Gripen (Rafales are good too)

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    • qaeta@lemmy.ca ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      For a modern military, in a general sense, yes, the F35 is the best currently. Mostly due to it’s software and sensor suite which have a much larger impact on mission performance. It’s built to an assumption of US support, which means good runways and resilient supply lines. Russian fighters are out for the same reason US fighters should be out right now (can’t trust the government).

      Canada is looking for new fighters, where I think the Gripen is actually better than the F35 for our specific use case (almost entirely defensive, rough runways in arctic conditions that the F35 struggles with, need for lower maintenance requirements due to manpower and budget issues). The Swedes deal with the same conditions we need a fighter for, plus they offered a full tech transfer to revitalize our aerospace industry and help achieve autonomy for operation of the Gripen.

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    • real_squids@sopuli.xyz ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I can forget about stealth capabilities for a sec, but Migs, really? Enjoy your 6 mig29++++ ever built and wooden mockups of fifth gen planes.

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