'It's Possible to jailbreak F-35 like iPhone', Says Dutch State Secretary of Defense Tuinman (www.bnr.nl)

submitted 3 weeks ago by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world

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A widespread concern is what would happen to Dutch weapon systems if the Americans were to withdraw completely as an ally. For example, Dutch F-35 aircraft are dependent on American software updates. Yet, Tuinman isn't particularly worried about this.

"The F-35 is truly a shared product. The British make the Rolls-Royce engines, and the Americans simply need them too." 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.

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. (Crack it with your own software, ed.)

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[-] MatSeFi@lemmy.liebeleu.de 2 points 3 weeks ago

Next F35-frimware-dump on Piratebay:

  [ RELEASE INFORMATION ]
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
  NAME......: F-35_Series_FW_Utility
  VERSION...: v2.4.0-OPEN
  DATE......: 2026-05-04
  PLATFORM..: Embedded Linux / RTOS
  TYPE......: Firmware Dump & Tools
  SIZE .....: 14.2 GB (840x50MB)
  ORIGIN....: Internal Flash (SPI/NAND)

  [ DESCRIPTION ]
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
  This package contains a jailbreaked binary dump of the flight 
  controller. Included are scripts for:
  
  * Hex-signature verification
  * Partition table analysis
  * File system extraction and flashing
  
  [ INSTALLATION / USAGE ]
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
  1. Ensure your Fighter jet is in USB-Debugging mode.
  2. Run 'python3 F35_jailbreak_flash.py --check-signatures'
  3. Take Off
  
  CAUTION: Modifying firmware can result in a bricked device
  or "Fly-Away" scenarios. Use at your own risk.

  [ GREETS ]
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
  To the researchers, the tinkerer community, and all those 
  who believe in the right to repair and modify their hardware.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------
             "Information wants to be free."```

[-] Winter_Oven@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago

tell me more about the "Fly-Away" scenarios

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Install Graphene on it lol

[-] Ghostie@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago

Graphene Devs: We can’t support it because it doesn’t have a Titan M Chip blah blah blah

[-] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 2 points 3 weeks ago

I don't want to be the guy to tell my boss I've bricked the F-35

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 1 points 3 weeks ago

Even broke the warranty seal over the USB port.

[-] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yeah... Fighter jets don't really get bricked.

A brick is when you've messed something up to the point where the hardware doesn't boot and the only possible solution would be to pull out a rom chip and replace it with one with factory settings, but that's too hard and not worth doing.

But that's the thing, with the F-35, it'll never be not worth doing. It could be a $5000 setback... But whatever.

[-] metermatic26@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I’ve been working in the Dutch tech sector for decades. My general opinion about the culture of Dutch governmental institutions, including Defense, is one of neoliberalism and technological opportunism.

Public officials are completely ignorant about technology, yet misuse technology to advance their careers by starting megalomanic IT-projects, meant as nonsensical solutions to help realize highly unlikely business cases, that will only be realized (maybe) years after they’d handed over the reigns.

All of this has caused governments to become highly digitized, with large pools of IT-‘professionals’, yet barely able to maintain and develop the digital infrastructure they built up, because of a catastrophic shortage of tech-savy leaders and actual experts.

The reason I mention this, is because Dutch public officials are generally both highly techno-optimistic as well as highly techno-ignorant. Its not uncommon to see them making claims that sound misguided or downright false to anyone who’s anyone.

My take is that Tuinman likely shared his comment in an attempt to comfort the public, but that it betrays his fundamental lack of understanding about the digital infrastructure that makes up the F35. And if Tuinman is being fed this sort of information by his subordinates, then I’m worried that the experts at Defense might not actually understand the infrastructure themselves either.

The risk in all of this, is that Defense and the political establishment might be lulling themselves into a false sense of security, by underestimating the risks. Sure, you can jailbreak software, but many of the F35’s capabilities still require live access to the American intelligence infrastructure. Without that access, knowing there is no European alternative, the F35 would be a fundamentally broken plane.

[-] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

imagine flying a jailbroken fighter plane that gets an over-the-air update that bricks the controls

just get the gripen

[-] cecilkorik@piefed.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago

"ATTENTION! Your jet has been hacked by MilitaryGod Tech Team[LOL]. Your radios and controls have been disabled. Do not attempt to eject. Please send 10 bitcoin to wallet 214d93120cd3192ea019ab03928f1fa03 immediately to unlock your controls. If we do not receive payment in 15 minutes, all weapons onboard will be launched at nearby friendly targets. Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter. Have a nice day!"

[-] DoPeopleLookHere@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Can you elaborate on the Gripen?

Edit: my ore-coffee dyslexic ass read just like the Gripen.

I fully support Canada getting manufacturing here..

[-] Soup@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Something tells me fighter planes don’t get updates from anything other than a computer plugged directly into them.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

That would seem like an awful idea that would be a dangerous security risk to the fighter.

So they probably did it anyway.

[-] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Well, let me be the one to surprise you and tell you that this is exactly how software and encryption keys are loaded onto the aircraft.

At no time would any combat aircraft have an operating system which even has the capability to receive software updates wirelessly, that would be an incredible vulnerability during wartime.

It requires a specific device that looks like it was made in the 1980s and deletes itself if it is bumped too hard and this device has to be directly connected to NSA controlled infrastructure in order to be loaded with any updates. The resulting material is loaded onto the device and physically carried by an Airman in the wing's comm squadron and they are escorted by at least one other service member from the secure terminal where it was loaded directly to the aircraft.

It's uploaded via internal connections (which may or may not look to be from the 80s) which are accessed by a maintenance hatch on the belly of the plane. Once the hatch is closed, if it is opened again at any point the aircraft will dump all of the key material and the resulting party will have a lot of paperwork and counseling to deal with and some other set of airmen will have to repeat the entire process all over again.

This has to be done for pretty much every flight, the aircraft cannot even start without this package of key materials and software. This process is fairly standard and used on a lot of equipment, as most equipment needs keying materials to function due to all of the datalink and/or telemetry systems.

It is likely that the Secretary of Defense was referring to their understanding of how this system operates and how they have scientists and engineers and the resources to reverse engineer any components. They have intact and working copies that they can tear apart and none of these systems are magic, they're just secret and obtaining an intact war plane to reverse engineer is incredibly difficult in normal times. The Dutch have plenty of intact war planes to study.

[-] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

In production since 2006 and of course they were designing the things earlier than that, so....

Wouldn't be surprised if it's like some cars of the late 90's and early 00's and you need a computer with an RS-232 port to connect to a multiplexer of some sort that connects to the plane

E.g to get full dealer level access to old Mercedes cars, you'd need one of these:

And a laptop with RS-232 running Windows XP (can be on a VM)

[-] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

Please keep buying our jets bro

We spent $1 trillion to make them bro, we need these to work bro

We'll iron out all he bugs, trust us bro

It's the best jet ever made bro, it's killed so many Palestinians and Iranians bro

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I'm still waiting for them to use the F-35 against an actual competent adversary with an actual airforce, but I think the only possibility would be China.

Maybe Pakistan if India buys the F-35, but even they know its a Lockheed money scam.

[-] Emi@ani.social 1 points 3 weeks ago

And here I thought the military would want their stuff to work without software updates and be open source.

[-] Humanius@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The military wants the best equipment, and currently in terms of specs that is the F-35.

That comes with a dependence on the United States, which at the time of purchasing these jets was not considered to be a particular concern because America is a good ally and a part of NATO.

Following Trump's re-election and antics over Greenland, that calculation is now different. It might not be worth it to buy new F-35s at this point (though Germany seems to be considering it still), but the Dutch army has pre-existing F-35s which we should be able to use even if America doesn't want us to for whatever reason.

At this point for the purchase of new jets we really should be looking at the new Eurofighter though, imo

[-] vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

With F-35's costs, is it really the best equipment? I suspect the real reason is that replacing it is a gigantic undertaking that might be far more expensive short-term.

The components dependency part in fighter jets, though, is something they really should be able to solve. Those are very complex systems, but designed with integration and customization in mind. That's one of the reasons they are so expensive. Slowly replacing everything in them with components from more reliable producers is normal for militaries. Well, for militaries with actual RnD and production, of course Uzbekistan or Colombia can't do that, but Netherlands can.

[-] real_squids@sopuli.xyz 0 points 3 weeks ago

With F-35's costs, is it really the best equipment?

Name another stealth jet that you can buy right now in significant numbers.

[-] MITM0@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago

You call F35 the best ? The thing cannot fly well on a rainy day & it has shit landing-gear.

Get Sukhois, Eurofighter, Migs or Gripen (Rafales are good too)

[-] qaeta@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago

For a modern military, in a general sense, yes, the F35 is the best currently. Mostly due to it's software and sensor suite which have a much larger impact on mission performance. It's built to an assumption of US support, which means good runways and resilient supply lines. Russian fighters are out for the same reason US fighters should be out right now (can't trust the government).

Canada is looking for new fighters, where I think the Gripen is actually better than the F35 for our specific use case (almost entirely defensive, rough runways in arctic conditions that the F35 struggles with, need for lower maintenance requirements due to manpower and budget issues). The Swedes deal with the same conditions we need a fighter for, plus they offered a full tech transfer to revitalize our aerospace industry and help achieve autonomy for operation of the Gripen.

[-] real_squids@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I can forget about stealth capabilities for a sec, but Migs, really? Enjoy your 6 mig29++++ ever built and wooden mockups of fifth gen planes.

edit: also why would they want rafales if they don't have carriers and they'd never carry nukes?

[-] Jaysyn@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago

What about replacement parts? Just cut your losses & get something not made by fascists.

[-] deliriousdreams@fedia.io -1 points 3 weeks ago

I have one question. From where?

Name the other countries building equivalent aviation equipment and platforms. So far as I know they're pretty much all fascist.

[-] metermatic26@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago

My question would be: do we really need a next-gen, multi-mission stealth fighter to safeguard ourselves from the Russians?

[-] deliriousdreams@fedia.io 1 points 3 weeks ago

I'm not saying that's not a relevant question.

But also, there's not that many countries making their own military hardware anymore (fighter attack, electronic attack, stealth, or even just bombers). The ones that do are all pretty much on a fascism kick (Russia, China, USA).

And while we're at it, The SU-57 would like a word. Because it's the main reason so many countries do want the F35.

this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026

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