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UK Demands Sourcecode for Strike Fighters

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the we're-taking-our-jets-and-going-home dept.

An anonymous reader writes ""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 defense 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."

12 of 800 comments (clear)

  1. We can fix it! by SEWilco · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gee, give us a few jets and we'll get right on writing Open Source Software for them...

    1. Re:We can fix it! by Comatose51 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hate to be around when the emacs vs. vi and/or KDE vs. Gnome flame wars erupt. This time, it's going to be a literal flame war.

      --
      EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
    2. Re:We can fix it! by Y-Crate · · Score: 4, Funny
      "Gee, give us a few jets and we'll get right on writing Open Source Software for them..."
      And the first time a pilot requests a feature, you guys will sigh heavily, roll your eyes and tell him there is a free terminal running emacs that he can get to work on immediately if it's so important. ;)
  2. Come on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well after 1776 and 1812, can ya blame America for a little fail-safe? /tongue_in_cheek

  3. The real reason. by gklinger · · Score: 4, Funny

    America's reticence to hand over the source code has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with embarrassment. Why? The plane's control software in Visual Basic.

  4. The F-22 Under GPL! by flyingrobots · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe they'll post it on Sourceforge ;)

  5. Command Navigation Program by Swifti · · Score: 5, Funny

    More info about the Joint Strike Fighter's navigation software here.

  6. Nothing to see here by lhoriman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lockheed's chief scientist, Dr. Gaius Baltar, stated last Friday: "There is absolutely, I repeat, absolutely, no way that the Joint Strike Fighters could be shut down with a software instruction".

  7. Watching Too Much StarTrek? by Black+Copter+Control · · Score: 4, Funny
    Of course, if the USA Military didn't have the idea before this, they do now.

    "OK, Kahn. Here it comes....."

    --
    OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
  8. Re:Is that for real? by drgonzo59 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or, would I buy something as critical as an operating system without having access to its source code...oh...wait, nevermind.

  9. Re:Licence agreement? by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why not just return the missiles? Saves on postage and packing, and has a very low rate of vendor complaints afterwards. ;-)

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  10. Re:To be fair by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 5, Funny

    We are at peace with the Brits; We have always been at peace with the Brits. =)

    --
    http://outcampaign.org/