PARIS – The partner countries involved in the Lockheed Martin F-35 remain fully committed to the fighter jet, and there’s no sign the United States is changing course on the Joint Strike Fighter program, Dutch Minister of Defence Ruben Brekelmans said.
“It’s in the interest of all of us to make sure that the F-35 program remains operational, that it remains as successful as it is right now, and I don’t see any signs of the United States backtracking,” Brekelmans said in a press briefing at the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum on Tuesday, in response to a question citing concerns the U.S. could remotely ground aircraft operated by allies.
“So, I don’t think we should speculate on this,” he added.
Some European researchers and lawmakers expressed concern in recent weeks that America might block allies from using their F-35s, as U.S. President Donald Trump appears to increasingly align with Russia and has threatened to annex Canada and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
European F-35 operators collaborate with the U.S. to prepare the mission data files critical to operating the jet, and many rely on a U.S.-hosted cloud-based software system for maintenance and updates.
The Netherlands as of September had received 40 F-35s out of 52 ordered. That same month, the Dutch announced plans to buy another six of the jets and officially retired their fleet of F-16s.
Brekelmans pointed out that the F-35 program relies on parts from partner countries, echoing an argument made by Belgian Minister of Defence Theo Francken in a television interview Monday.
Francken dismissed comments about a hypothetical F-35 “kill switch” as “scaremongering stories,” also saying that if the U.S. would stop supplying parts, that would “immediately completely shut down” the business of the entire U.S. defense industry in Europe.
The U.S. is the “biggest partner, and we need to have them on board in order to have a successful F-35 program, but other countries also play a key role,” Brekelmans said, noting the stealth jet has some “essential parts that only we produce.”
“In the end, it is good also for the strength of the United States and for NATO and all of us that we have the most modern air force in the world,” the Dutch minister said. “That means we should all be fully committed. And so far, that’s what I also see from the partners in the F-35 program.”
Lockheed Martin said in a statement last week that the company delivers “all system infrastructure and data required for all F-35 customers to sustain the aircraft.”
The F-35 capabilities against Russian air defenses cannot currently be replaced or replicated with other platforms, Justin Bronk, senior research fellow for air power at the U.K.’s Royal United Services Institute, wrote in a social media post on Monday.
“On the F-35 fears, I get it — there is real dependency,” Bronk said. He added, however, that if countries rely on the U.S. for targeting capacity — beyond line-of-sight communications, ISR and munitions to fight a war — then dependency on the U.S. for mission data files and software “isn’t your main problem.”
Norway earlier this month received three more F-35 aircraft, bringing its fleet to 49 jets out of 52 the country has ordered. Denmark has received 17 fighters out of 27 ordered. Belgium has been less advanced in building up its fleet, receiving its first F-35 in December, with a total of 34 on order. Poland, meanwhile, started training on its first F-35s in February.
The Netherlands continues to see the U.S. as a reliable NATO ally, but the Americans expect European countries to step up and “do much more” on defense, according to Brekelmans.
”They do not expect burden sharing, they do expect burden shifting,” Brekelmans said. “We should take that message seriously, but we should not speculate on any further steps that the United States is taking because we simply cannot guarantee our security without the U.S. at this moment. That is the reality that we have to work with.”
Brekelmans added that the Netherlands is prepared to “seriously talk” about sending troops to Ukraine to safeguard any peace agreement with Russia. The minister said he doesn’t believe a U.S. backstop is off the table, even if there will be no American boots on the ground.
“There are also other ways in which you can provide a backstop,” Brekelmans said. “And it’s not only nuclear. In this escalation ladder, there are many steps in between, and we need to make sure that we create those steps.”
Any mission in Ukraine would need to be clearly defined and have “robust military capabilities” to realize the defined goal, Brekelmans added.
The Dutch minister said “it’s very good” that French President Emmanuel Macron last week floated the idea of expanding the French nuclear deterrent to European allies. With China investing in nuclear capabilities and Russia issuing nuclear threats, “we also need to have this conversation,” he said.
“These conversations are very much in early phases and exchange of statements and ideas,” Brekelmans added. “It’s not [like] right now … with ministers of defense, that we have sessions about nuclear capabilities or something.”
As part of this year’s bigger budget discussion, the Dutch government will assess whether to raise defense spending above 2% of its GDP, according to Brekelmans. An additional percentage point would mean an additional €10 billion to €12 billion of spending, which “for the Netherlands is a serious amount of money.”
The biggest capacity shortages for the Netherlands are in the land forces, and while the Dutch government is planning to buy tanks, “the number we invest is relatively low,” Brekelmans said. “We need to make sure that our land forces become bigger and stronger, with more heavy equipment and heavier weapon systems.”
The war in Ukraine has shown that Dutch Army battalions and brigades need to be able to keep up the fight longer than three months, which means investing in enablers such as supply chain, logistics and medical equipment will be a priority, the minister said. Air defense will be another focus.
“We need to make sure we have more air defense systems, more missiles, more of everything.”
Defense News reporter Stephen Losey contributed to this report.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
