this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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And here I thought the military would want their stuff to work without software updates and be open source.
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
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)
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.