Pentagon has the means to ground Berlin’s stealth jets

The US can stop Germany using its F-35 combat jets at any time, according to analysis of the previously secret contract for the aircraft.

A F-35 at the International Aerospace Exhibition in Schoenefeld, near Berlin. Picture: AFP

The United States can stop Germany using its fleet of F-35 combat jets at any time, according to analysis of the previously secret contract for the aircraft.

The Pentagon is said to have insisted on reserving the right to stop sorties under “exceptional and urgent circumstances, when it is required by the US national interest”. It has also refused to allow German officials to inspect computer code that controls the aircraft.

Several Western countries are reconsidering their orders for advanced US weaponry after the Trump administration briefly cut off the provision of spare parts, software and military intelligence to Ukraine.

These concerns are salient in the case of the F-35, which is broadly regarded as the most capable all-round fighter on the market, but also depends on a “black box” of algorithms and data jealously guarded by the US.

The manufacturing partners, led by America’s Lockheed Martin, deny persistent speculation that the aircraft are equipped with a clandestine “kill switch” that Washington could use to disable them remotely in an instant.

Yet analysts say the aircraft are so dependent on regular software updates and spare parts from the US that the administration could achieve the same effect by cutting off technical support.

That has caused unease among some of the 21 allied nations and partners that have bought or ordered the F-35, Britain, Japan and Australia among them. Canada and Portugal have indicated they could rescind their orders.

On Tuesday, Rasmus Jarlov, a Danish conservative MP who shared responsibility for the country’s decision to buy 27 jets, said he regretted it and advised other countries to withdraw from the program while they still could. “I can easily imagine a situation in which the US will demand Denmark hand over Greenland and threaten to deactivate our weapons [if we don’t],” he said.

Germany ordered 35 jets in 2023, largely to ensure the continuation of the “nuclear sharing” arrangement, whereby the US stations roughly 15 nuclear weapons on German soil.

The jets are expected to cost about €8.8bn ($15.16bn) and the first airframes are due to be delivered in 2027.

However, the behaviour of the Trump administration and its perceived bullying of Germany has led prominent politicians and former officials to call for Berlin to renege on the order.

These worries have probably been exacerbated by a report in Stern magazine, which said it had obtained a copy of the classified German contract for the F-35s. According to Stern, the Germans are obliged to report every sortie to Washington in advance and may not service them or examine their software.

They must also agree to all data on how the aircraft are being used being uploaded to Amazon cloud storage.

The German defence ministry said it was confident the F-35s would be “fit for service” and that the contracts would be fulfilled.

THE TIMES