Dutch defense chief claims F-35 could be "jailbroken like an iPhone" to bypass US approval

[Win7User]

Yep, and you'll never get another jet from the US!

 

[imdarkbreeze]

Hilarious. You heard it from where exactly? My guess is the shadiest corner of the internet or maybe it was a mental patient walking by who whispered it in your ear.

How about, from EVERYWHERE, including every first page result on Google. Guess you must have been the mental patient.

Yes, Israeli F-35I "Adir" fighters run custom Israeli-developed software and electronic warfare systems
, making them unique among all international operators. They operate with an independent "app-like" layer on top of the base Lockheed Martin software, allowing Israel to integrate its own electronic warfare systems, weapons, and sensors

 

[dalpilot]

Yep, because US would not want all NATO fleet grounded when one of Israeli F35 gets accidently downed by Iran during bombing of Their nuclear systems, and Allah forbid, with a computer intact.
Plus, Israeli's are kinda not fair partner, for example when It comes to spying on Their own allies.

I guess you're missing something - everyone spies on everyone because you're never quite sure when today's ally (or alliance of convenience) becomes tomorrow's adversary. Point of note: Prior to the Iranian Revolution, Iran and the Shah were are best allies right behind the Israeli's and were sold state of the Art F-14 Tomcats (which were then grounded for lack of spare parts after the 1979 takeover). And, while Israel has lots of customers for its products - Defense, Pharmaceuticals, Tech - it has few, if any, allies outside of the US (and even that was very questionable during the Obama and Biden administrations).

 

[dalpilot]

Well... Russian aircraft also direct Naval missile strikes on targets hundreds of miles away. What do you think guides Russian missile strikes into Ukraine? A headless chicken?

Maneuverability is important for missile evasion, not dogfighting. Russia's SU-37 was an experimental testbed to see how far maneuverability could be taken. They only built one, back in 1996. The results were incorporated into later production fighters like the SU-34 and SU-57.

US aircraft are designed primarily for offensive strike roles against enemy ground installations. Hence the focus on stealth and the ability to get in and out quickly before being engaged by the enemy.

Russia focuses on defense. They don't generally risk jets for long range tactical strike missions, leaving that to missiles like the Oreshnik and Iskander. The SU-57 is specifically designed for air-air combat against incoming strike fighters. Ultra-Tankey. Think League of Legends Trundle. The SU-57 carries more anti-air armament than the F-35. It has extensive side mounted radars not found on US jets. It is faster and more maneuverable. Russian jets are heavily networked with ground radar and SAM systems.

An F-35 is like an archer with a longbow. A SU-57 is an armored knight on a horse. Once the F-35 shoots its wad, it's gonna run like hell. "Please feet, don't fail me now!!!"

The question of which nation designs the better aircraft depends on their role. For strike aircraft, buy American. For a defensive landwar, Russian aircraft are probably better.

Not sure where you got your information but the Soviet Union has exactly FIVE SU-57 and they were all hand built (no assembly line). As for their other defense products a lot of them are proving less then reliable (e.g. the Soviet S-300 vs. Israeli F-35 in the June 2025 "12 Day War". Anyone who thinks you can "Jail Break" the F-35 code need only look at what happens to MS Windows every time you do an update - there are usually bugs created by the update itself. Even though the F-35 ONLY has a reported 8 million lines of code you sure wouldn't want to break the engines or flight controls on your $100 million jet so you do some modifications. I flew the F-16 for 16 years in the Air Force - the first "Electric Jet" - and you would not believe some of the things they attempted to do to fix one thing while "breaking" another (none life threatening). My bet about Israeli changes to the F-35 software is they are likely running code "on top of" the base code (similar to running MS Office on Windows) rather than "hacking" the entire code base. Almost every system that the US has sold to Israel has had modifications done to it (Patriot - Iron Dome, F-16 has different missiles (Python vs. AIM 9 for IR missiles), F-16 has additional "conformal" fuel tanks for greater range, F-15I (Israeli F-15E) has numerous changes to its software and hardware. Don't believe everything you read on Internet and/or see on You Tube.