How F-35s became the new Tesla

Yahoo

23-03-2025

F-35s are the most advanced fighter jets in the world, capable of flying at 1,200mph while staying virtually invisible to enemy radar, equipped with unrivalled surveillance capabilities and a devastating array of missiles.
From its base in Fort Worth, Texas, Lockheed Martin every year churns out roughly 150 of the state-of-the-art planes, which have quickly become the backbone of modern Western air forces.
As they are shipped out around the world, billions of dollars flow back into the US defence industry.
But the planes need more than computer chips and galvanised steel to get off the ground: they depend on trust between the US and its allies, which has rapidly drained after Donald Trump suggested he could annex Greenland or Canada, and fell out spectacularly with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Countries are now asking if they can still rely on America – and F-35s look as if they could be caught in the crossfire.
Such is the anger at the US that some commentators are now comparing them to Teslas.
The electric vehicles looked like the cars of the future not so long ago, until they were boycotted for their association with the Trump administration via the company's chief executive, Elon Musk.
On Friday, Mr Trump poured salt in the wound as he suggested selling 'toned-down' jets to the US' allies, 'because someday they're not our allies, right?'
He was referring to a new generation of F-47 jets – but the aircraft is decades away, and the only immediate impact of his comments will be to shake Nato countries' faith in a United States that looks increasingly unreliable.
Allies are suddenly wary of relying on the US to supply the spare parts and software updates needed to keep their F-35s in the sky.
Some even believe the jets harbour a secret 'kill switch' that could be casually flicked on by a temperamental president, although this has been strenuously denied by Lockheed Martin.
It raises an awkward question for US allies: what's the point in having a fleet of the most advanced stealth fighter jets in the world if they won't be able to get it off the ground?
One former defence official told Defense One news and analysis website that Mr Trump's repeated outbursts about seizing Greenland, Canada or the Panama Canal made it 'very hard to see how they remain with the [F-35] programme'.
Canada, which was planning to buy dozens of the fighter jets, recently announced that it was examining 'other alternatives'.
Portugal also appears to be getting cold feet.
'The recent position of the United States, in the context of Nato... must make us think about the best options, because the predictability of our allies is a greater asset to take into account,' its defence minister Nuno Melo said this month.
Germany, too, is increasingly looking askance at F-35s.
Wolfgang Ischinger, former head of the Munich Security Conference, has suggested Berlin could cancel its orders after the US halted shipments of F-16 jets to Ukraine, following Mr Trump's disastrous Oval Office meeting with Mr Zelensky.
Europe, which once depended on the US for two-thirds of its military equipment, is now freezing out American companies and attempting to shift its reliance on Washington.
Experts believe France's aviation industry will be the big beneficiary of the backlash to F-35s, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, is publicly talking up its Dassault Rafale jets.
Jon Hemler, an aerospace analyst, said that other options for US-sceptical nations include the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Saab Gripen, or South Korea's KF-21 – but noted that all of them mean 'sacrificing' advantages that the more-advanced F-35 can provide.
The response from US allies, which have collectively invested billions of dollars into the fighter jet programme, is stunning.
Membership of the elite club with access to the fifth-generation jets was once highly sought-after. It was a source of humiliation for Turkey when it was expelled in 2019 by Mr Trump for purchasing a Russian missile system.
Now some could turn their backs over persistent fears the aircraft is equipped with a 'kill switch' that could ground the jets.
Credit: X/@sentdefender
The F-35 Joint Programme Office (JPO) strenuously denies that this exists, saying that it is 'built on strong partnerships with US allies and partner nations' and has always been a 'collaborative effort' that 'meets the operational needs of all its users'.
But Richard Aboulafia, a Washington-based aviation specialist, disagrees, arguing a kill-switch 'doesn't have to be a big red button'.
He told The Telegraph: 'Of course, there's a kill switch.
'Anything with software or internet connectivity has a kill switch. That's just the way it works – welcome to modern society.'
Software isn't the only potential issue – allies are also anxious about hardware.
F-35s belonging to Nato countries could be crippled if the US decided it would stop shipping over replacement parts needed to keep them airworthy.
'It's like if you're in the UK and you buy a US car,' said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
'If the United States were to shut off the flow of parts, you could scavenge parts for a while – but eventually, your car is not going to be running very well. If you had a fleet of cars, fewer and fewer would run when you can't mobilise the other ones.'
Experts believe that even Israel, which has pushed for a degree of operational independence from the US, would not be able to keep its fleet running indefinitely without American-made parts.
The F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement: 'The programme operates under well-established agreements that ensure all F-35 operators have the necessary capabilities to sustain and operate their aircraft effectively.
'The strength of the F-35 programme lies in its global partnership, and we remain committed to providing all users with the full functionality and support they require.'
Others are anxious about the US government's commitment to the F-35 programme after Mr Musk repeatedly suggested that its funding should be pulled.
While analysts are sceptical that the Pentagon would scrap the programme altogether, limiting its F-35 purchases would inflate prices for US allies.
In November, the Tesla chief executive tweeted criticisms of F-35s three times in the space of two days, attacking the planes as 'a jack of all trades, master of none', 'obsolete' and 'broken'.
Mr Musk, who has since been appointed the US government's efficiency tsar, said in one post: 'In the name of all that is holy, let us stop the worst military value for money in history that is the F-35 programme.'
But others believe that reports of the F-35's death have been greatly exaggerated.
Denmark, where politicians are now fretting about the fate of Greenland as Mr Trump's repeated annexation threats, has already had its fleet of fighter jets delivered.
And while many European countries are wobbling, both the Netherlands and Belgium have confirmed that they will keep buying them.
Britain's flagship Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier was built for the specific purpose of accommodating F-35s, meaning it is effectively being 'held hostage', according to Mr Aboulafia.
Analysts have also suggested that the US could look for new customers in the Middle East if it is spurned by Nato countries, opening up the programme to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Douglas Birkey, head of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies US think tank, believes the West simply does not have the luxury of a decade to secure another fifth-generation fighter jet.
'Planes like the F-35 are the price of winning in the modern era,' he told The Telegraph.
But trust between the US and its allies is breaking down, and the consequences could outlive the F-35 programme.
On Friday, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Boeing had won the contract to build the next-generation F-47s, declaring that America had sent a 'direct, clear message to our allies that we're not going anywhere'.
Whether those countries still want to follow where the US is leading, or strike out on their own, is another question.
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