England ready to cancel a £12bn order for American fighter jets

[thewayne]

Sort of like the code on Federation ships that let them turn off the shields on Khan. I can't blame the Brits in the least.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2152035/joint-strike-fighter

Britain warns US over jet software codes

£12bn Joint Strike Fighter order could be scrapped
Matt Chapman, vnunet.com 15 Mar 2006

The UK has warned America that it will cancel its £12bn order for the Joint Strike Fighter if the US does not hand over full access to the computer software code that controls the jets.

Lord Drayson, minister for defence procurement, told the The Daily Telegraph that the planes were useless without control of the software as they could effectively be "switched off" by the Americans without warning.

"We do expect this technology transfer to take place. But if it does not take place we will not be able to purchase these aircraft," said Lord Drayson.

The problem stems from strict US guidelines on the transfer of technology to other countries. Under current rules any British requests for the use of US technology can take 20 days to go through, obviously limiting the usefulness of a jet strike force.

Lord Drayson is currently in Washington to speak to members of Congress. His tough talking on the project includes the fact that Britain has a 'Plan B' if the Joint Strike Fighter deal falls through.


And once again, The Slashdot Thread.

Comments

[apostate-96.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I can see both sides of it. If we give up the code, it means that other assholes have more chances to get into it and be able to mess with our warplanes. On the other hand, if we don't give it up, it means that England'd be kind of fucked if we ever ended up on opposite sides of a conflict. I certainly wouldn't want to buy an expensive weapon that could be turned against me by the party who sold it to me!

I guess it all comes down to whether we trust the Brits enough to give 'em that kind of access to our technology or not. That, and how badly we need the money right now....

[pandashrugged.livejournal.com]

Heh... I guess you ought to decide whether or not you are going to trust the other party with sensitive military codes before you start supplying them with weapons! I am with the Brits.

On a separate note, that article wraps around the most annoying ad I have ever seen on the net. *Calming seizures*