Skypig Roast

Lockheed (and Tesla) getting hammered.

Trump kissing Putin’s ass is going to be the end of the F-35. Lockheed is too big to get erased completely, but Tesla is not. Laugh as much as you feel appropriate, these are self inflicted injuries.

And it’s been a whole five days since Start Shorting Lockheed. American defense firms are not going to be able to sell Europe any system that needs an actuator more complex than a centerfire primer.

If it isn’t there now, ANY software maintenance would allow a killswitch to be installed. This is the kiss of death.

LOLWUT. I have not seen any coverage to this effect.

Not actually a European country. But OK, because they’ve apologized for this.

Germany reconsidering.

At least the pilot got out. We’re short of those, did you know?

And then there’s Space Karen getting precisely what he should have foreseen.

I haven’t had cause to read SEC 10K/10Q filings in a very long time. I will be reading these …

Conclusion:

Car purchases are a five year commitment. Fighter selection is generational. The skies of Europe will swarm with Gripen, Rafale, and Typhoon.

Lockheed’s only potential saving throw here is to provide EVERY F-35 customer with the same level of access that Israel and Japan have. I haven’t seen any sober aircraft acquisition coverage on what this would really mean, I’m not even sure it’s a plausible course of action. Once Lockheed shows the particulars of any advance, the potential for it to appear in Gripen, Rafale, or Typhoon soars.

The only pan-European entity that could conceivably serve as a nexus for a more contained sharing is … NATO. So that’s a non-starter.

And given the enormous counter-intelligence problem that Trump administration has already created for itself … when people get insulted, then discarded, they’ll walk out the door with all sorts of things.