The text was first published in March 2025.
F-35 aircraft, Apache helicopters, Patriot launchers, Abrams tanks … Poland is arming power, and the supplier of the most modern weapons are usually companies from the USA. It seemed to be an excellent insurance policy. But the pace at which Donald Trump cut out Ukraine from military support, forces you to ask the question: can we be defenseless?
“Financial Times” reports that All of Europe asks similar questions. For example, a dish that has F-35. Recently, Trump says that he will want to take over Greenland, which is a dependent territory of Denmark. If there is a conflict-and it is difficult to rule out-will the Danes be able to defend themselves F-35? Or maybe Americans will be able to “disconnect” them?
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“Magic button”
-Officially, representatives of arms companies say that there is no “magic button” that turns off, for example, F-35 aircraft. Unofficially in the arms industry, however, it is said that such exclusion is technically possible. Modern systems are so packed with electronics that the author of solutions can at least make the life of those who use such a weapon quickly – indicates in an interview with Business Insider Polska Mariusz Cielma from “New Military Technology”.
Also “FT” interlocutors indicate that you can turn off the planes “at a little code”.
For now, Polish-American relations seem good, despite various arguments in social media. The war from the USA can imagine, but Poles are not. So is there anything to fear? Mariusz Cielma points to other threats than just a sudden “cutting off” advanced aircraft.
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– Blocking on weapons can also be entered in a different way – e.g. by stopping the deliveries of spare parts. Already, Ukrainians are afraid of the deficiencies of parts for Stryker or Bradley. Such parts can be attempted to buy on the so -called The black market, you can also develop your own substitutes – but this is always a big problem. So this is also a way to neutralize the equipment – notes the expert.
No alternative?
– Nevertheless, it is difficult to find substitutes for many types of weapons from the USA. We do not have a good alternative to the F-35 yet-European competition will not appear here quickly. So it's a bit like we are doomed to now. But I also hope that Europe will arrange relations with the USA – and there will be no “turning off” weapons – says Mariusz Cielma.
We are doomed not only on the F-35. Also for systems such as Patriot or Himars, it is difficult to find non -American competition. However, we acquire many weapons from other directions – even tanks, howitzers or lighter planes from South Korea. We still have a lot of equipment from Germany – even Leopard tanks. Until recently, experts caught their heads that we were buying weapons from different directions, which hinders to negotiate rates or logistics. Now it may turn out that, paradoxically, such “diversification” of supplies can be good for us.
Europe, however, is largely dependent on the USA. Let's take a nuclear weapon. The French developed their nuclear arsenal independently, but the British did not. Their bullets are leased from the USA and regularly return to the American base at Kings Bay, Georgia.
– The purchase of weapons is always a political decision – the fact that we purchased so much weapons from the USA resulted from the fact that we simply treated this country as a stable partner – indicates Mariusz Cielma. She thought about Warsaw, but also London. Paris was skeptical – and now this approach seems more reasonable. But also a transatlantic divorce is not a foregone conclusion. Certainly, American arms companies that sell weapons to Europe would not like this. And which may lose tens of billions of Donald Trump's unpredictability. And it's no secret that the influence of these concerns in Washington is powerful.
Author: Mateusz Madejski, Business Insider Polska journalist
