Addressed in the first section. If the cables are destroyed preventing internet to the US there is significantly more damage to the US, and frankly the globe, than ALIS not being able to call home. A half decent military will have communications back-up including SATCOM, rendering this type of attack largely ineffective.

If someone goes to the effort to utterly destroy the global telecommunications network all modern fighters are going to have a hard time arranging their spare parts get shipped on time. This isn’t an F-35 problem.

I find it amusing actually that the same fanboys who will claim the F-35’s software and avionics aren’t any more advanced than their favorite aircraft… then will turn around and try to bash the F-35 for supposed kill switches or software based vulnerabilities that of course their favorite plane isn’t subject to… :very_drunk:

The lunacy of an attack against submarine telco cables being identified as a concern for F-35 shows just how absurd Defence-Aerospace is. Clearly this line of attack against F-35 has not been thought through.

There are two possibilities. First that the cables will be attacked and crippled, rendering them useless. If that happens, there are more worries than the F-35 not connected to ALIS such as the entire global financial system collapsing… If that does happen, the US and many of its Allies have military only SATCOM, such as WGS, to rely on, which has more than enough bandwidth to ensure F-35 can talk with ALIS globally. In fact, the likelihood is that at forward deployed locations or at sea military units will only be using SATCOM to communicate this information anyway.

Second, if the cables are compromised and somehow the Russians or others can access the cables and cyber attack the ALIS messages going back and forth then good luck. They will have to decipher the ALIS connection from all the porn and cat videos passing through the fibre. If they somehow can, they will then need to break into the encryption on the fly, almost certainly done at the industry standard of 256 bit. Given how difficult this is I have no confidence that they would be successful. The only really effective way to get into ALIS then becomes attacking the nodes at either end of the link, so either the deployed ALIS system on a base transmitting the info or the ALIS node in Texas. Again implausible as this attack method becomes no different from any other airframe which needs to order spare parts and uses the airframe deployed maintenance systems to accomplish this task.

Surely there are more intelligent arguments that people can make…

All modern planes are packed full of software that is continuously being updated for new threats, patches, etc. All modern planes (at least one exported) are reliant to some extent on foreign support and spare parts… but only for the F-35 is this a problem of course.

Are there hidden software kill switches in exported Rafales, Eurofighters, or Gripens? Of course not! Oh, but what about the F-35… yeah, could be there is one there.

:rolleyes:

What if someone utterly destroys the global telecommunications network? How will Egypt order spare parts? No problem… Rafales don’t need spare parts or support.

Russia could cut defense procurement spending: sources

The Russian government is considering a 5 percent cut in defense procurement spending this year, sources say, showing not even Vladimir Putin’s plan to restore Moscow’s military might is immune to the pain of a slowing economy.

The president has made beefing up the military a national priority, and the fact it is up for discussion is a sign that no area is safe from budget cuts as Russia begins a second year of recession following a fall in oil prices and Western sanctions.
…

If approved, the 5 percent cut would be the biggest in defense spending under Putin, who has been Russia’s dominant leader since 2000. In 2011, while prime minister, he announced plans to revitalize the Russian army and its aging equipment by spending 23 trillion roubles by 2020.

The cut would represent a small but symbolic victory for the finance ministry which has said Russia can no longer afford a multi-billion-dollar revamp of the armed forces and called for a 10 percent spending across ministries.

Defense spending is budgeted at 4 percent of gross domestic product this year, or about a fifth of all government spending, and Russia has military engagements in Syria and Ukraine.

Moscow spent 2 trillion roubles on defense procurement in 2015, Deputy Defense Minister Tatiana Shevtsova said last year. That represented over 60 percent of total budget spending on national defense.

IMPOSSIBLE BURDEN

One of the sources, who all spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said there had been talk of proposing a 7 percent cut but there was “mighty opposition” from the defense ministry to that plan and the reduction would probably be 5 percent.

There is no final decision and it is yet to be approved by the prime minister or the president, two senior officials said.

“But we are trying to persuade our bosses that it is impossible for the budget to bear such spending today,” a source in the finance ministry said.

…

When Putin announced his defense revamp in 2011, the government expected GDP growth of 6 percent throughout the decade. This year the economy is facing its second year in row of falling GDP, its longest recession in two decades.

Oil, which together with a small basket of other commodities makes up half of state revenues, is now selling at slightly above $30 per barrel, just over half the level the Russian government had expected for this year in late 2015.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-crisis-military-spending-idUSKCN0VS0RR

Sounds like the reality train just pulled into Moscow station…

The basic “flyaway” cost of a conventional Air Force F-35 model, which includes its engines, will drop to about $85 million by 2019 in current dollars at that time to about $100 million anticipated for the latest contract, Bogdan said.

“Affordability is still a big problem,” said Richard Aboulafia, a military aircraft analyst with the Teal Group.

The F-16, also built by Lockheed, costs about $50 million, and the competing Swedish-made Saab Gripen NG goes for $55 million, Aboulafia said. The current flyaway cost of the F/A-18E/F from Boeing Co. is about $77.8 million, according to fiscal 2017 Navy budget documents.

The F-35’s current flyaway cost is in “roughly the same class as the Typhoon Eurofighter — around $90 million — and Boeing F-15,” Aboulafia said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-19/pentagon-chief-sells-lockheed-f-35-as-best-even-affordable-jet

Some numbers that are certain to spark discussion…

Essentially the F-35 has already matched the price of the F-15, Eurofighter, Rafale and will soon move into a price bracket with the Super Hornet.

Only the Gripen/F-16/FA-50 might be able to continue to find a niche at the very bottom-end of the market, but even there their advantage is marginal.

On May 18 we are unveiling the first of the next generation Gripen aircraft. It’s a key milestone in the evolution of The Smart Fighter.

See Saab website.

Hopefully they will release some useful information when they do.

Yep…

Check your meds.

looks like Turkey just got the excuse they needed
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-blast-idUSKCN0VQ25S

because the Kurds are going to detonate a car bomb when the Turkish army is begging for an excuse to attack them
false flag, no other name for it

Sure, because Turkey doesn’t have a long long history of terrorist attacks.

Me and confused? Certainly not.. Only snafu has wondered why you suddenly remained silent on the subject of Israel..

Suddenly silent?