Op-Ed: The F35 kill switch idea did more damage than a real kill switch. Then they made it worse
By
Paul Wallis
Published
March 22, 2025
F-35: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Zachary Foster — CC0 1.0
The F35 kill switch was something nobody wanted to think about.
According to the Pentagon, it doesn’t exist. Nor should it.
But imagine being stupid enough to create the idea at all.
A real distrust of American weapon systems could kill the entire sector. Back this up with a very sincere distrust of American politics and “personalities” and you’re losing your market entirely.
Particularly now, when America is barely on speaking terms with the rest of the world.
The world is that round thing with all those other people in it, for those suffering from American geography.
Just so you know.
During the Cold War, America made much of “Ivan the Terrible Salesman” and Russia’s ham-fisted arms business blunders.
Now they’re doing the same thing themselves with hopelessly inept diplomacy and a truly grotesque series of statements about annexing Canada, buying Greenland, invading Panama, etc, etc.
Then there’s the fun bit about ultra-annoying your allies systematically from day one. That’s working well.
It’s a bad case of American exceptionalism gone hyper-gaga. The world has taken serious exception.
The F35 kill switch idea is a case in point.
What if you did have a kill switch?
What if your ever-increasing supply of enemies went looking for one?
What if they couldn’t find one, and decided to invent one?
Could you be any stupider?
That’s why the idea is dangerous. There are any number of ways of putting a plane out of action, but an entire class of fighters, and remotely? It’s theoretically doable, although it’d be quite a feat of engineering.
It’s also a very big ticket big money item in the US defense sector, put at risk
by three words.
Any other outbreaks of genius? Or do we have to wait to see how the wannabe roulette wheel of US defense policies pans out?
Why did the F35 kill switch have any credibility at all? The main reason is extreme distrust of American politics. Canada backed out of its F35 purchases for that reason. It’s hard to believe a clumsier or stupider approach to a longtime close ally.
The F35 is
in service with multiple air forces. These very high-maintenance aircraft need enough pampering without bonus tantrums or any other issues. They’re expensive. Before they went into service, I was
calling them a “flying credit card”. They’re still expensive,
Now just suppose someone other than the Lone Musketeer aka “All for One, None for All” went on a cost-cutting rampage. How about all those expensive American weapons? Look good on a budget as “savings”? What a coincidence.
Suppose competitors who design their aircraft like multiple countries in Europe and Japan did a few quick sums about producing their aircraft? See any bottom line issues for the American military-industrial complex?
This verbose, thoughtless idiocy is actually capable of undercutting the American monopoly on high-end military tech even if it takes a while. What if they very unsurprisingly put export tariffs on critical materials? Or simply refuse to export? Any thoughts, geniuses?
It took three words to put the whole US aerospace sector in serious question. Have you ever considered shutting up?
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
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In this article:
F35 kill switch,
US aerospace credibility,
US diplomacy
Written By
Paul Wallis
Editor-at-Large based in Sydney, Australia.
