Forum: General F-35 Forum

The advanced F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, for example, has a new vulnerability. Its wide-angle field-of-view radar can be attacked with cyberweapons through its active, electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas. Airborne cyber­weapons form data beams that can be packed with malware and directed into a target antenna.

Just found this article that talks about F-35 vulnerability to EW and cyberweapons.

What are your opinions on this topic?

Link: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... 438890.xml

The veteran airborne EW specialist says the threat to radars and other systems using AESA antennas is less a looming catastrophe than simply another thrust and parry in the fencing match of EW that has been going on since before World War II. “As radars mature, the signals processing gets smarter and intrusion becomes less of an issue until some new technique is invented,” he says. “The benefit of our new systems is that they have multiple sensors covering different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that allow sensor fusion to overcome point solutions with digital RF memory and
tremendous signal processing capability.”

“The only new issue is the attempted introduction of a virus or some other network attack element through the AESA,” says the EW specialist. “All are conduits for incoming signals. The question is how you process the signal to retain the value-added information and reject or exploit the hostile content. As in most systems, we have multiple layers of signals rejection.”

There are ways to attack an AESA radar on a dedicated one-to-one basis, says Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for operations. However, that vulnerability can be mitigated by the fusion of multiple radars. If several aircraft with AESAs network themselves together, the radar being attacked can shut down and rely on information available on the network. Another option is to switch to infrared or electro-optical sensors.

We'll have to see. The USAF was able to function before data-links, they can figure out how to do it again if they have to.

Just found this article that talks about F-35 vulnerability to EW and cyberweapons.

What are your opinions on this topic?

Link: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... 438890.xml

Newsflash: The F-35 isn't made out of Unobtanium; vulnerable to bullets and explosions.

But can they do it quickly enough, and how much institutional knowledge remains?

Two examples:

Hypothetical situation where virus introduced which messes up the functions of commercial telephone switches. "No, problem, just hire back the operators".

Example you can demonstrate yourself: Walk into the service department of a car dealer and watch a younger mechanic try and figure out what's wrong with a car if they can't get a trouble code from the diagnostic computer

I just have to laugh, when I see folks assuming that the USAF/USN/USMC/etc... only train for best case scenarios, where they have good visibility, all of their equipment is working at 100%, and there is no EW to deal with. This critique is grasping at straws.

The warning came from the Deputy Defense Secretary, but what does he know

Did you bother reading the paragraphs that I posted, from the very same article? The very concerns addressed with regards to the vulnerabilities, are the sorts of capabilities that the F-35s will have against their foes, as well. The move along attitudes are to temper the sky is falling alarmism/hysteria that gets posted here.

Now consider this, the PAK FA, J-20, Rafale, Typhoon, etc... will all be in the same boat, which is why we develop countermeasures, and use encryption/security techniques, as well as practicing under less than ideal conditions, to get a realistic assessment of real world performance.