Breaking: RAF grounds F-35 fleet after loss of US-operated data services. Netherlands, Denmark and Norway confirm similar groundings. Emergency NATO session called.
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@BBCBreaking · 13 Jan 2026 · 09:15
9.4K replies
Every defence procurement committee on earth opened a new agenda item this morning and the item is one sentence long: "what in our inventory has a switch we do not own?"
I do software. The answer is going to be "almost everything" and it is going to take four years to find out.
Sorry, a stupid question. Does "grounded" mean they are broken, or that someone has told them not to fly?
I cannot work out from the news which one it is and they seem very different to me.
Not a stupid question at all — it is THE question and the reporting is bad at it.
They are not broken. Every one of those aircraft could take off right now. A safety system will not clear them because it cannot phone home to a server in the United States.
So: told not to fly, by a computer, on behalf of a country that is not theirs.
Serious question from someone who builds things for a living: if you were the Japanese or the Koreans this morning, would you sign the next order?
Because I would not. And that is my industry. That is my town.
What was happening
13 January 2026 · in the recordEurope grounds its stealth fleetAvailability across the allied F-35 force falls by more than half in seventy-two hours. The United Kingdom brings forensic logs to Brussels showing the severance was administrative…