Good to see that aside from US-made fighter planes, both Spanish [permanent link] and Italian [permanent link] air forces also own and operate European-built fighter planes. Unlike the Canadians, whose fighter jets are all American [permanent link], the Europeans seem to be wary of depending fully on the [untrustworthy] Americans. The Italians, in addition to flying European-built jets, also operate such an exotic fighter plane as AMX International AMX. Great. In all likelihood, crooked Americans have incorporated covert kill switches into their machines, to be used to remotely and secretly disable the aircraft during times of war [perhaps with plausible deniability as well].
Update [6-Nov-19]: This NYT story from 2009 shows how Americans themselves look at everyone else with complete distrust, when it comes to incorporating foreign-made chips/microprocessors into US defence equipment. But the same Americans want their so-called allies to blindly trust American military gear, and not to inspect it or question it or ask for its source code.
"As advanced systems like aircraft, missiles and radars have become dependent on their computing capabilities, the specter of subversion causing weapons to fail in times of crisis, or secretly corrupting crucial data, has come to haunt military planners. The problem has grown more severe as most American semiconductor manufacturing plants have moved offshore."
"In the future, and possibly already hidden in existing weapons, clandestine additions to electronic circuitry could open secret back doors that would let the makers in when the users were depending on the technology to function. Hidden kill switches could be included to make it possible to disable computer-controlled military equipment from a distance. Such switches could be used by an adversary or as a safeguard if the technology fell into enemy hands."
"According to a former federal prosecutor, who declined to be identified because of his involvement in the operation, during the early ’80s the Justice Department, with the assistance of an American intelligence agency, also modified the hardware of a Digital Equipment Corporation computer to ensure that the machine — being shipped through Canada to Russia — would work erratically and could be disabled remotely."
So basically this NYT story says exactly what my blog posts have said.
Update [25-Apr-20]: Sensible decision by Germany to replace Tornado by buying a mixture of >2/3 of European Eurofighter jets and <l/3 US-made F-18 jets. Former will ensure European industrial base concerns + eliminate possibility of secret kill switches [plus transmission of mission data to USA], the latter will placate USA + continue Germany's nuclear deterrent capability.
Update [6-Nov-19]: This NYT story from 2009 shows how Americans themselves look at everyone else with complete distrust, when it comes to incorporating foreign-made chips/microprocessors into US defence equipment. But the same Americans want their so-called allies to blindly trust American military gear, and not to inspect it or question it or ask for its source code.
"As advanced systems like aircraft, missiles and radars have become dependent on their computing capabilities, the specter of subversion causing weapons to fail in times of crisis, or secretly corrupting crucial data, has come to haunt military planners. The problem has grown more severe as most American semiconductor manufacturing plants have moved offshore."
"In the future, and possibly already hidden in existing weapons, clandestine additions to electronic circuitry could open secret back doors that would let the makers in when the users were depending on the technology to function. Hidden kill switches could be included to make it possible to disable computer-controlled military equipment from a distance. Such switches could be used by an adversary or as a safeguard if the technology fell into enemy hands."
"According to a former federal prosecutor, who declined to be identified because of his involvement in the operation, during the early ’80s the Justice Department, with the assistance of an American intelligence agency, also modified the hardware of a Digital Equipment Corporation computer to ensure that the machine — being shipped through Canada to Russia — would work erratically and could be disabled remotely."
So basically this NYT story says exactly what my blog posts have said.
Update [25-Apr-20]: Sensible decision by Germany to replace Tornado by buying a mixture of >2/3 of European Eurofighter jets and <l/3 US-made F-18 jets. Former will ensure European industrial base concerns + eliminate possibility of secret kill switches [plus transmission of mission data to USA], the latter will placate USA + continue Germany's nuclear deterrent capability.
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