Another thing to remember about US/Europe defence and the prospect of Trump withdrawing defence cooperation: it's not a one way street. US aircraft rely on advanced systems from BAE & Leonardo, particularly in EW, radar, countermeasures and avionics. - ThreadSky

ianbetteridge.com • 4 days ago

Another thing to remember about US/Europe defence and the prospect of Trump withdrawing defence cooperation: it's not a one way street. US aircraft rely on advanced systems from BAE & Leonardo, particularly in EW, radar, countermeasures and avionics.

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mikejleake.bsky.social•4 days ago

As long as they don’t need to leave in a hurry…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin-Baker

ianbetteridge.com•4 days ago

For example, all F-35's use the AN/ASQ-239 Barracuda EW system, made by BAE. Sure, the US could create a replacement – but the same is true for most US systems that EU/UK use. It's not cost-free for the US to "turn off" cooperation.

dangerouscorner.bsky.social•4 days ago

Is this made by BAE the UK based corporation or is it made by the US subsidiary which is UK owned but has a number of arms-length relationships with the parent company? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Inc.

ianbetteridge.com•4 days ago

BAE in the US. But I would be *very* surprised if that was as independent as the US believes.

dangerouscorner.bsky.social•4 days ago

Yeah well, every time in the last 20 years I have thought "surely this part of the UK ruling class/deep state / MIC must have a number of contingency plans beyond merely 'crush the left and keep the media on side'?" I have been sorely and cruelly disappointed.

evanspw.bsky.social•4 days ago

That’s built be the US subsidiary of BAE and it’s all kept at arms length from the UK parent company. I doubt the UK could shut it down.

ianbetteridge.com•4 days ago

True, but the same is also true for some of the US systems which people have pointed out.

joeinaustralia.bsky.social•4 days ago

It's not necessarily the case that switching off the F-35 EW system would be a quid pro quo. People speculate that the US has been compromised at the highest levels; it might be the case that whoever ordered the US shutdown of F-16 systems would be equally happy with the UK shutdown of F-35 systems.

pdf27.bsky.social•4 days ago

Depends if it's from a US subsidiary of BAE or not. They've bought an awful lot of US businesses over the past few years.

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