As you may have heard, the US is nit against preventing us from using our weapons against Russia, even if we were attacked. This is more or less what they are doing now with Ukraine if they do not fold to their extortion plan: https://www.reuters.com/business/us-could-cut-ukraines-access-starlink-internet-services-over-minerals-say-2025-02-22/
Is it too late to cancel the purchase of the F-35? It was chosen to be able to carry US nukes but that is never going to happen now. Moreover, some equipments can be disabled by the US if they wanted to (revoke GPS keys, do not give code for programming/unlocking missiles…), reason why Israel has redone the whole electronics of their F-35s.
by Krek_Tavis
26 comments
They probably could fuck with the F-35’s but at the same time if they did that it would completely wipe out their status as an arms exporter, which would nearly collapse their military industrial complex because the manufacturers live off of the exports.
Alienate Russia then the US? What a great plan of yours.
The reason we must take the F-35 is because the US will not adapt the [B61](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/B61-kernwapen) gravity bomb to be compatible with any European fighter jet.
The entire reason Belgium has the air force it has, is to fulfill its NATO mission of delivering those bombs to Russia in case of a nuclear conflict. Those bombs are not in Kleine-Brogel they say. Pinky swear they are not there. They say. (they of course are)
Therefore. F-35 it is.
Is this silly? Sure it is. Will our pilots survive such a mission? Of course not.
Another reason is because The Netherlands has the same NATO mission in that case, and also had to choose for the F-35 for the same reason. Belgium and The Netherlands will obviously (and already do) cooperate together with their air forces. To have two different planes to operate is too much overhead for a small country.
Well already a few are delivered to the training site in de US so whar about those then?
Canceling is just not a option anymore now. What we going to use then? We are already to far in the whole changing of everything.
If we reason like Trump we can cancel any time with no repercussions
We shouldn’t but we also shouldn’t buy more at this point.
Teo just anounced he wants to buy more.. always wondered why not eurofighter. In all aspects aside of one eurofighter is better.
Honestly cancel em and buy the newest griffins, way cheaper, cheaper to run, faster turnaround, and relatively locally produced.
Lets keep existing obligations to necessary minimum and invest heavily in euro-fighter that could arrive within 4-10 years from now.
First off the US can cut off GPS for anyone, GPS is based on us military satellites that they basically let the whole world use for free. This is why the ESA started developing Galileo as an alternative.
Second, we will need a lot more budget if we’re gonna use another fighter plane on top of the f35. Wasting budget isn’t the best wat to get to 2% GDP.
I don’t like Franken, but he put it right in De Afspraak yesterday. We’re fucked if the US fully drops us, and the f35 are the least of our worries. You could basically see on his face that he is genuinely afrade of that scenario.
If we were to switch to Griphen or Rafael. It will take years to rebuild the logistics and air component bases, and retrain pilots, support and maintenance. And that is best case scenario.
I’ve tried calling them, but their helpdesk isn’t responding. Maybe because it’s the weekend.
Like we say in kleurenwiezen “de tafel plakt”.
Jets have already been delivered, they’re currently used for training our Belgian pilots (both new and Belgian instructors) at Luke AFB.
Ordering alternatives will take time to even start being delivered. Coolblue doesn’t have an “order by 23:59” guarantee on these types of things.
Yes it´s too late but ordering additional F-34’s would be a major mistake.
There´s other useful hardware and capabilities we can spend money on.
Any weapon that can be switched off remotely it’s really dumb, no matter how good it is, it’s good only for who keeps the keys for that.
The whole nuke carrying is just one side of it.
Looking at the current Ukraine war, a major lesson from there is that both air forces can’t operate anywhere near the front line without losing most assets. That includes the upgraded F-16s Ukraine has , those things are hard to miss with SAM missiles. (our army telling us they are the ‘neusje van de zalm’ were just lies)
So for when the next war happens, we need to consider that. We need planes that can operate in a hot zone with active radars searching for them. There is right now only one plane we can buy that has that capability. That’s the F-35.
There are other non US programs for stealth capable planes. Perun has an [excellent vid ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTjdEtHYDJ4)on it. But the fastest (planned) available is still [10 years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Combat_Air_Programme) away. And we may very well have to fly planes over an invading army in the Baltics soon to engage targets there.
The F-35 is something we right now just need. It will be the only plane capable of engaging targets with strong air defence present.
Just take the planes but refuse to pay. That is trumps way of doing business
We need to send F35 to some good security researchers and let them jailbreak the hell out of them/the DRM. Great content for CCC camp at the end of the year and a safe bet for us.
Yeah, nothing better then coming back on your word/contract as a country.
Also, that nuke thing is not the only reason by far that the F-35 was picked. It is by far one of the most survivable fighter/bomber in a non permisive environment.
Is it overkill for us? Sure. I would have picked the new version of the F16 which is more than good enough, uses up the rest of our supplies and our pilots and mechanics only need minimal retraining. But we didn’t, we placed the order and we’ll see it through.
Besides, there is no way in hell that Theo Francken of all people would cancel it.
I’m less than 3y Trump is gone
It really depends if you bought that F-35 online or in a physical store. If you bought it online, you can return the plane within 14 days after receiving it.
Carefully read the seller’s terms and conditions if you haven’t already. Usually there is a clause that allows you to opt out under certain conditions, but expect to be charged a fine for “administrative costs”. And next time try to be less impulsive.
The F-35’s need a yearly subscription token or the computer will not start. But we can’t cancel without a valid reason. We don’t want to worsen our countries reputation in the world.
What do you mean “it’s never going to happen now”?
I think people need to chill down a bit. The only “new” thing is the language he’s using. Lots of what he’s saying (about the EU needing to invest way more, and us to be responsible for the security of our continent) isn’t new.
If the US actually withdraws their nuclear arsenal then yes, we have an issue. But it won’t be “wasted money on F35’s”.
F-35 is a stupid product to buy since the US can basically decide to shut them down if you don’t do what the US wants you to.
So it’s like buying a car but the constructor can decide not make it work if you don’t buy the new lifetime warranty.
Europe has their own gps satellites which are more accurate even than usa’S
It’s funny that Europe thinks Russia is a bigger threat than the USA itself
Russia is a threat max to either Finland or Sweden or Poland or parts of Hungary Estonia Latvia and not Belgium or France or Germany or Norway or Denmark persay
Russia looses if it attacks as russia sees these countries as biggest market for their products and Russia was biggest looser because of Nord stream explosion
On the other hand USA is very tactical here increasing fear mongering by threatening to leave out nato and indeed making europe beg USA
USA already has leverage on Europe for oil and other means
If at all Europe has to fear it should be the soft power USA is using in breaking European dominance in financial market to empower the dollar
How difficult is it to read this between the lines??
And still people have the sentiment from world war times and wants to st uk to USA as their allies
Russia is not the threat to EU and USA uses Russia as a villan to fear monger and act as support
classical tactic
Nobody wants EU to loose but wants to sell things to EU as they are squeezed dry of their manufacturing power by starving its energy and finances indirectly
And biggest benefactor from this is USA or China
And USA wants to replace Europes products by their products and keep abreast in competition with China and still stay relevant and wants to use Europe as a dependent consuming economy
Why are the leaders soo dumb not to see this yet? Be it trump or his predecessors US wants Europe sucked dry out of their self dependency
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