Germany. Questions about F-35 fighters bought from the USA

“Can American F -35 bought for billions of euros be remotely turned off? It's just a rumor. In the event of a conflict, the Americans have other possibilities of immobilized machines,” writes the portal of Munich Gazeta.

The German government bought 35 F-35A combat aircraft for the Bundeswehr to ensure the most important type of American protection-nuclear deterrence against Russia. In the German-American Buechel base, about 20 B61-12 atomic bombs are stored, each with a strength of 50 kiloton. Until now, the German army had Tornado aircraft adapted to carry nuclear bombs. From 2027, Tornado machines will be replaced by F-35A.

As the author of the text Georg Ismar pointed out, a project worth EUR 10 billion should appeal to US President Donald Trump. “Currently, however, there is no certainty whether atomic bombs will remain in Buechel. The United States from a close ally is becoming an uncertain companion,” said the journalist. In addition, we are talking about “Kill Switch” – a technical device, thanks to which the F -35 can be remotely controlled and their operation is limited.

“Sueddeutsche Zeitung” reminds that the dilemmas associated with the purchase of F-35 also have dishes. “If the Danes wanted to use these machines to defend Greenland against the US, maybe they would not have arrived there at all,” said military expert Michael Schoellhorn quoted by the journal.

And he adds that although the American side denied the existence of “Kill Switch”, Washington has other possibilities of immobilizing machines, refusing to deliver spare parts or update data and equipment.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius denied that the version of aircraft purchased by Germany may have a “control option”. However, it is not clear what effects F-35 would have the lack of data, updates and American information. Because millions of data are saved in the cloud, the problem of access and control has become the subject of discussion at the German Ministry of Defense – we read on the portal “SZ”.

The Ministry of Defense reassures that the F-35 “cannot be turned off remotely”. The aircraft is a multinational product, and its parts are also produced outside the USA, including in Germany. However, military experts warn against too unilateral addiction to the USA.

Carlo Masala from the Bundeswehr University in Munich sees the biggest problem in transferring data and spare parts. “If they run out, the F -35 will not be able to fulfill many tasks,” he explains.

In Germany, pressure on a return towards European solutions increases. This opinion is also the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. However, the problem is the lack of European offers. The commander of Swiss aviation Peter Merz found the debate about the F-35 as absurd. On the LinkedIn platform, he wrote that the US cannot control F-35 aircraft remotely and that there is no machine immobility switch. Lack of alternative, however, causes a great addiction to America – admits the Swiss officer. As for planes, Europeans are in his opinion 20 to 30 years behind America.

Switzerland ordered 36 most modern fighters in the world from the USA. He is to pick them up in 2027-2030.

In 2020, Poland signed a contract for the purchase of 32 F-35 fighters.

The F-35 Lightning II multi-purpose aircraft is the fruit of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program initiated in the 1990s. It was competed by constructions created by Lockheed Martin and Boeing. In 2001, the competition was won by the first with the prototype of the X-35 aircraft, on the basis of which a modern fighter was created. The first F-35 machine was delivered to the US Air Force in 2014.