The Netherlands’ defense secretary, Gijs Tuinman, says the F-35 fighter jet can be jailbroken “like an iPhone,” but it might be “highly unlikely.”
Jailbreaking tech products like iPhones, Xbox, and PlayStation has been around for years, allowing modders to open up their devices to make pretty much everything free and downloadable.
It can come at a cost, however, with the warranty of devices being voided, and you might even end up with a bricked console if an update rolls out.
However, it seems like the technique extends to planes from the United States, as the Netherlands’ defense secretary, Gijs Tuinman, who believes that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet can be ‘jailbroken’ in its “current state” too.
The F35 jet is used by a number of forces across the globe.
F35 jet can be ‘jailbroken’ according to Dutch military
Speaking to BNR’s Boekestijn en De Wijk podcast, Tuinman said that the fighter jet is “a shared product,” because of parts being made in the United States and Great Britain.
“And even if this mutual dependency doesn’t result in software updates, the F-35, in its current state, is still a better aircraft than other types of fighters,” Tuinman added.
“If you still want to upgrade despite everything, I’m going to say something I should never say, but I will anyway – you can jailbreak an F-35 just like an iPhone.”
As per TheRegister, who asked aircraft tech Ken Munro, a jailbreak of the fighter jet becoming public knowledge is, however, “highly unlikely,” because the barrier to entry is “simply too high.”
This isn’t the only mention of outside technology being used in military operations recently, either.
Major General William ‘Hank’ Taylor, one of the top officers in the US Army, admitted to using ChatGPT to make key military decisions, saying he’d become “really close” with the AI tool.
