Why German Policymakers Are Concerned an American ‘Kill Switch’ Could Disable Their F-35 Fleet

<p >Following the emergence of a significant rift between Washington and the majority of its European allies over their positions towards the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian War, German policymakers have expressed growing concerns over the possibility that the U.S. could remotely disable <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35-fails-improve-delays-performance-issues-software-deficiencies" target="_blank">F-35A fifth generation fighters</a> procured for the German Air Force in the event of a security crisis. Thirty-five of the fighters are currently on order under a $9 billion deal, with the aircraft having procured specifically due to their advanced nuclear delivery capabilities, which is viewed as necessary due to Germany’s ongoing nuclear sharing deal with the United States that gives it wartime access to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35s-cert-stealthy-nuclear-strike" target="_blank">American B61 bombs</a>. The United States’ threats to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-threat-cut-starlink-access-leverage-ukraine" target="_blank">cut off Ukraine’s access</a> to the Starlink satellite network, and reported <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-bans-britain-passing-american-intel-ukraine" target="_blank">limitation of its access</a> to targeting data to utilise precision guided weapons, have set a precedent for this. </p><p >”The ‘kill switch’ in the F-35 is more than just a rumour,” Joachim Schranzhofer, the head of communications at German defence company Hensoldt informed the local media outlet Bild. “But it’s much easier to use the mission planning system – then the plane stays on the ground.” Former president of the Munich Security Conference Foundation Wolfgang Ischinger was among the informed sources that questioned the future of German’s F-35 procurement plans. “If we have to fear that the U.S. could do with future German F-35s what they are currently doing with Ukraine, we could consider terminating the contract,” he stated.</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/03/10/article_67ce6350d7fd17_11595843.jpg" title="Royal Australian Air Force F-35A Fighters"></p><p >Concerns regarding the limited autonomy which operators of the F-35 will have were highlighted beyond Germany, with the defence analyst Richard Aboulafia, speaking to the London-based Financial Times, observing that although the existence of a kill switch has not been confirmed, “If you postulate the existence of something that can be done with a little bit of software code, it exists.” “Most European militaries depend heavily on the US for communications support, for electronic warfare support, and for ammunition resupply in any serious conflict,” Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, observed, which made the need for a ‘kill switch’ redundant. The possibility of the United States disabling F-35s supplied to clients abroad has been raised repeatedly in the past, with analysts specifically observing that the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) system which is heavily centralised in the United States could easily be used to disable the fighters. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/03/10/article_67ce6386e5bad8_37168932.jpeg" title="F-35 Fighter"></p><p >The United States has since the 1980s placed particularly extensive restrictions on the utilisation of its fighter aircraft by foreign clients, which has been widely raised as an issue for decades. In early 2020 former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/malaysian-prime-minister-mahathir-claims-american-fighters-are-only-useful-for-airshows-why-f-18s-can-t-fight-without-washington-s-permission" >observed</a> regarding the restrictions imposed on the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s operations of the country’s F-18 fighters: “we cannot program the plane for any attacks against other countries without getting the programming done by Americans. So although the planes are very good, in terms of performance very powerful engines, but we cannot program the plane by ourselves. You have to refer to the United States for putting the program for any raid on foreign countries for example. So our planes were costly. We have them. We can fly them at airshows. But we cannot use them to fight any other country because we don’t get the source code.”  </p><p >In February 2025 former Indian Air Force Air Marshal Anil Chopra observed that the lack of an ability to depend on the United States, and Washington’s  “tendency to exert pressure and abandon allies when its own interests diverge with theirs,” were <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/indian-air-marshal-strong-argument-su57-procurements" >leading factors</a> that ensured Delhi <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/trump-pledges-export-f35-stealth-fighters-india-derail-su57" target="_blank" >would not consider</a> the F-35. The restrictions on access to software codes, and on which bases fighters could be operated from and for what roles, were also major factors leading India not to seriously consider offers to supply the F-16 or F-18 in the past. Such concerns have usually not been raised by NATO members due to their greater access to software codes and common strategic objectives with Washington, although the unprecedented new rift between Washington and Europe could result in a paradigm shift in this regard. Nevertheless, the F-35’s position as the only fifth generation fighter in production in the Western world leaves European states with few viable alternatives.</p>

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