This is so disappointing, the argument is that Denmark is too smal to run multiple types of Fighter Jets.
I’d say we should cut our losses, and get rid of them, we’ve only received a few anyway.We have made arrangements with Sweden on air defense cooperation, and I’m sure they’d be more than happy to cover us in the meantime, if we buy Swedish jets instead.
For fucks sake this is a no-brainer IMO!!!
Whoever is responsible for the purchase should be fired. You are buying from the enemy. They have control of the software in the jets, why would you put yourself in that position. 🤦♂️
Denmark has a very strong experience in making purchases from the wrong companies and countries. Also experts in realising too late or never, and ending up posting a lot more money into it to straighten the fault out, after the purchase
This is a terrible mistake. Dont give Trump any more chips than he already has.
I disagree, they should absolutely buy them.
Two at least, one for themselves, the other they can sell to Saab.
Might aswell be calling up Sukhoi and asking if they have some spare jets laying around.
The current danish government is a circus act… Can’t wait for the next election and hopefully get a fresh start with a government that doesn’t look at people as currency and keeps increasing the government labour force, without fixing anything…
Well they will need them when it becomes time to defend Greenland.
Can’t the US shut them down?
The US clarified by saying “we can’t… honest”.
The maintenance contracts and parts are all US resources that could be switched off over night relegating your aircraft to a very heavy paperweight
relegating your aircraft to a very heavy paperweight
There’s a bit more to this. It wouldn’t immediately render the aircraft useless. It would just heavily restrict its usage and capabilities in the long term.
Iran still has US made fighter jets from the '70s, most notably the Tomcat and the Phantom. They’ve managed to keep at least some of them operational despite the lack of spare parts by cannibalizing parts from other aircraft and keeping flying hours low to reduce maintenance. The Iranians tried to reverse engineer a lot of parts with limited success which is why they’re so desperate to get their hands on more Russian jets like the Su-35.
The key difference between Iran and Europe is that we actually have a strong military industrial complex and experience in manufacturing combat aircraft. As such we would be able to switch to domestic aircraft especially since there’s already a stealth fighter project in development between France, Spain and Germany.
Alright, that is a bit uplifting.
I have one more skeptical comment/question: I would imagine the difference between 70s and now is that the new aircrafts have some digital component to them. And that the US could ensure they can use the digital part to “turn the aircraft off” for their “national security”. I have a very limited knowledge on the subject, so maybe this is all inspirational thinking…
And that the US could ensure they can use the digital part to “turn the aircraft off” for their “national security”.
No, they can’t shut the software off for everyone by turning off a switch. No military in the world would ever touch that aicraft if that was the case. It is true that the F35 runs on American software (except for the Israeli variant) and that for optimal performance it requires updates that are developed by the US. But the jets aren’t connected to a network in order for the US to send a malware type update to compromise the system. The updates need to be manually reviewed and installed. It’s not like how Google sends out automatic updates for Android that pop up in your notification bar. That’s a security risk that could be exploited by enemy agents.
And while the US can’t brick the aircraft from the other side of the ocean, it can stop providing updates to the system. It would drastically reduce the aircraft’s capabilities in the long term, but it would still be operational provided it has the proper maintenance. It just wouldn’t be that good. To put it into crude terms, think of two gaming pcs owned by you and your friend. Both of them are top of the line and both of them can only run Windows. For whatever reason you upset Bill Gates and he refuses to send you anymore updates for your Windows and doesn’t want to sell you a newer OS. Your computer works fine it’s just that you can’t do certain things on it because you’re running Windows 7 while your buddy is running Windows 11. Might not be the best example, but that should give you an ideea.
Regardless we shouldn’t stress about this. Like I’ve said, there’s already a stealth fighter project in development at a European level and we have both the technical expertise and industrial capability to further develop. The only downside is that our stuff is more expensive since we lack the economies of scale the Americans have in the defense sector. But that can be easily solved through joint borrowing and increased investment which is what we’re currently doing. The only losers here will be American defense companies that will see their sales to Europe decline as we shift to domestic alternatives.
Ironically enough Trump might be the best thing that happened for Europe since the formation of the EU. By trying to make America great again through his constant bullying tactics he is not only making America worse, but he is also making Europe great again by forcing us to loosen our ties with the US and invest in our own industries. Through sheer incompetence and ignorance that chucklenut is paving the way for us to become a superpower that can challenge US dominance over the globe.
