I'd expect the original agreements that were put in place--both the ones with the subcontractors as well as the purchase agreements--are quite strict on what you can do with the plane. Trying to reverse engineer software (the policy was that no one gets access to the original source code for the F-35[0], at least back in 2009) is probably a no-go under those agreements.

The original article suggests that Ukraine may end up having to replace the electronic countermeasures hardware to get around this in the future, so I'd expect any attempts to "un-brick"/work around the lack of support will eventually be along those lines, even if it results in some performance degradation.

No matter how they approach this, it's going to be a horrifically difficult and expensive task.

0. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/exclusive-us-to-withho...

> I'd expect the original agreements that were put in place--both the ones with the subcontractors as well as the purchase agreements--are quite strict on what you can do with the plane. Trying to reverse engineer software (the policy was that no one gets access to the original source code for the F-35[0], at least back in 2009) is probably a no-go under those agreements.

We're talking about Europe being able to protect itself from a potential Russian invasion despite the US bricking their F35s, and your argument is that they'd have to bend or break an agreement?

I don't think that's a big hurdle, in that eventuality.

(Reminds me a touch of this, though: :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3EBs7sCOzo )

> Trying to reverse engineer software (the policy was that no one gets access to the original source code for the F-35[0], at least back in 2009) is probably a no-go under those agreements.

the UK made access to the source code a condition of purchase, and the technology transfer agreement was signed

in a hypothetical scenario where the US federal government falls under the direct control of a russian asset, I imagine this would end up in our allies hands reasonably quickly

I expect knowing this new f35 deliveries will have hardware just different enough to need new software.

Move a few flags around in a few registers and for all practical purposes it’s stuck.

> The original article suggests that Ukraine may end up having to replace the electronic countermeasures hardware

See my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43307996#43309468 Replacing the jammers shouldn't be "horrifically difficult", might still be expensive though.

Depends on the used cryptography, could be months or decades.

I think there’s an interesting question about how important updates are: say they unbrick it, how often do you have before there’s some change you’d actually want to have but it’s no longer easily available? This feels like the much higher-stakes version of people trying to jailbreak phones without losing security updates.

It would very much so be a stopgap. Long term it's a security risk, but it's also a risk to not be able to fly your plane tomorrow.

Yeah, no good options in this scenario. I would be very worried that there’s a kill switch you haven’t uncovered.

Hardware is not the issue. The US strictly controls the software whence many differentiated capabilities of the aircraft come. This includes a lot of secret computer science R&D that no one has access to. Countries were buying it for the advanced software.

Can they reverse engineer it?

Will there be next US elections?

Next national elections are the midterms in November 2026 with a new house and senate taking over in Jan 2027, 22 months time.

If the American people want to shift track they have the opportunity to actually elect a Congress which will do something.

If not it’s November 2028 for the next presidential election. Trump (if he’s still alive - he’s not exactly young or healthy) won’t be able to stand for a third term unless a constitutional ammendment is past

> Trump (if he’s

It is not just about Trump.

MAGA is essentially a personality cult. There will be a massive power vacuum once Trump leaves the stage, and I doubt any fraction will be big enough to whip the kind of unwavering loyalty we're seeing today.

Typically in these situations you get infighting, splintering and general collapse of the movement.

The question is will it happen soon enough to mitigate some of the damage.

Would you have some examples from modern history of power vacuum not being filled in, say, 1 year?