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Comment by flatfilefan | Hacker News Reader

“Another scenario theorised by analysts involves the US Government using the F-35’s enabling systems to “punish” a non-cooperative ally, potentially by withdrawing software upgrades or feeding information that would ground the entire fleet.“ https://defence.nridigital.com/global_defence_technology_mar...

There’s more. I just couldn’t find it quickly.

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I don't see an issue with that.

While I understand the need (and the benefit) for selling arms abroad, having the ability to defang them if they try to use them against us seems very useful and seems like it could even expand the countries we're willing to sell to.

I think about this every time I hear about Iran flying F-14s

Kind of defeats the market for your product though. Assuming the US govt is going to stay non-rogue for the lifetime of the product you are buying to defend yourself against all threats, might be a tough call.

In fairness if the US went totally rogue their are few nations they couldn't wreck in short order outside of the ones with a credible ballistic missile program and nuclear warheads.

In that hypothetical no-one wins.

I'm sure there is an obscure plan for that somewhere in say the UK MoD filing cabinets.

I know the US war gamed invading Canada as both a training exercise and contingency plan.

Hopefully they've updated the obscure plan in the years since they gave away the entire carrier air fleet to the US marines, and ordered US F-35s to replace them.

Assuming competence in the halls of the MoD these days seems to be naive.

US doesn’t need to be involved directly for the blocking to become an option. Think about cases like India vs Pakistan vs China or Argentina vs UK or Marocco vs Algeria.

Why would anyone buy it then?

Because it's the most capable multi role modern fighter in production and at less than 80M[1] it's cheaper than any other modern western jet fighter.

[1]:https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2019-10-30/l...

Being in and expecting to remain in a close alliance with the United States, presumably?

You should research Turkey, the main European servicing hub for F35 engines, and also a buyer of SAMs from Russia.

The world is more complicated now than the (relatively) simple alliances of the Cold War.

The point is that that rapid fracturing was unexpected.

No one really thought Trump and Brexit would happen, and Turkey was looking like it might join the EU.

The problems with “we’re all besties forever!” are clear now, but that’s hindsight.

But "expecting to remain" is highly problematic these days, given the US' current leadership.

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