As the Trump administration works to strain every one of America's diplomatic relationships, its European allies are being forced to reevaluate their reliance on American military aid and equipment—equipment like the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II multi-role strike fighter that's currently or planned to be operated by 14 European militaries who will, theoretically, be relying on American cooperation to ensure continued maintenance of their air fleet.
According to Dutch defense secretary Gijs Tuinman, however, Europe's F-35 fleet might not be as totally reliant on American maintenance as we might assume—for its software, at least. In an episode of BNR's Boekestijn en De Wijk (via The Register), Tuinman said the F-35 can be jailbroken "just like an iPhone," indicating that European militaries could potentially circumvent Lockheed Martin and implement their own homebrew solutions if the need arose.
