this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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370
'It's Possible to jailbreak F-35 like iPhone', Says Dutch State Secretary of Defense Tuinman (www.bnr.nl)
submitted 19 hours ago by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
82 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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 124 points 18 hours ago (5 children)

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."```
[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago

You wouldn't download a ~~car~~ fighter jet's custom firmware

[–] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 14 points 12 hours ago

I was picturing more like a custom ROM on XDA: "Bugs? You tell me."

[–] Sabata11792@ani.social 10 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

Flashing failed 5 minutes in, and now an upside down jet with a big yellow ! coming out of the belly is on the screen. Did I brick my F-35 or is it recoverable?

[–] MatSeFi@lemmy.liebeleu.de 9 points 13 hours ago

Depends on your altitude..

[–] SayJess@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

Depends. You did schedule backups, right? Right?

[–] Sabata11792@ani.social 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, but I can't get to them as they are on the jet.

[–] MatSeFi@lemmy.liebeleu.de 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Don't worry, fighterjetstockroms.xyz has you coverd. Just download the the ROM for your locale and start over again. One short warning, US versions on EU hardware could lead to unexpected behavior as the binary blops expect altitudes and speed measured in USCS and not in meters as the EU model sensors do.

[–] Sabata11792@ani.social 3 points 11 hours ago

I put the US fw on and it started to bomb brown people for oil. Is that intentional or a bug?

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 13 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Help, how do I unlock the bootloader

[–] DivineDev@piefed.social 23 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

During startup, press the fire missile and eject buttons at the same time for 20 seconds

[–] SayJess@piefed.blahaj.zone 9 points 12 hours ago

What??? In earlier versions, we had to lift a couple of legs on the chips, a 50cm bodge wire, and finally shorting a capacitor while booting. Finally the write protection disabled, which allowed one to flash an older BIOS that allowed usb booting. The major downside was that it was a tethered jailbreak. But we made it work…except for the fly-aways.

[–] stupidcasey@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

I'm having issues with this step, I can't seem to hold the eject button for the full 20 seconds I keep getting forcefully ejected to the boot screen.

[–] Winter_Oven@piefed.social 23 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

tell me more about the "Fly-Away" scenarios