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.
I call bullshit on them being able to rule that out. The software is closed source and, even if they’ve reverse engineered it, amounts to ~8 million lines of code.
Edit: As far as I can tell, despite the headline they did not actually claim they have ruled it out.