F‑47: Safeguarding America's skies from espionage threats
The F-47 aircraft is designed to ensure US air dominance and will simultaneously be the first sixth-generation fighter to enter service. To prevent data leaks, the Americans have implemented special security procedures. The threat is real, as information about other aircraft has already been stolen by China.
Boeing, the corporation to which the US Department of Defense has entrusted the construction of the new F-47 fighter jet, will have to comply with stricter—higher than ever—safety standards. Information about the new requirements was provided by Katie Arrington, acting director of information at the Department of Defense.
According to information obtained by Breaking Defense, this is the result of previous experiences related to data security breaches. These involved, among other things, information about the F-22 and F-35 aircraft, which—according to the Americans—helped China build their new air superiority aircraft, the J-20.
According to the Pentagon, China's progress in building new-generation aircraft is due, among other things, to industrial espionage and the theft of information about American combat aircraft. Katie Arrington referenced this during her speech at the TechNet Cyber conference in Baltimore.
To prevent a situation where China steals the results of American work, Boeing and its subcontractors are to apply the zero trust principle. In practice, this involves the requirement of continuously assessing users for access only to the data they need at a given time.
The next link in the security chain is the implementation of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). This is a cybersecurity compliance and certification programme of the US Department of Defense, allowing the evaluation of defence sector contractors in terms of security levels. This is intended to reduce the risk of various types of cyber threats.
The F-47 is intended to ensure US superiority
The Pentagon's caution seems fully justified in this case. This is due to both the significance attributed to the F-47 aircraft and past experiences related to Chinese industrial espionage or the use of reverse engineering.
The F-47 is set to replace the F-22 Raptor in the US Air Force. This design, planned according to assumptions from the end of the Cold War, was initially an uncompromising, state-of-the-art air superiority fighter. Due to high costs and the collapse of the Soviet Union, production of the F-22 was limited to 195 units (including prototypes).
The F-22 led the world by about 30 years in terms of technology—ensuring the US Air Force's superiority over any opponent for that long. This advantage is gradually diminishing as potential adversaries introduce new types of machines such as the Russian Su-57 or the Chinese J-20.
Therefore, the Department of Defense, starting to phase out the F-22, plans to replace it with an aircraft that will once again guarantee the US Air Force a technological advantage over a potential adversary and compensate for its numerical superiority. From the Pentagon's point of view, the F-22 is one of the key weapon systems in the context of a potential confrontation with China.
Cyberattacks on the USA
The threat from Chinese intelligence is real and documented by numerous past cases. Regardless of the capabilities of the Chinese defence sector, the country has been stealing military technologies for decades (even from its allies).
Insights into classified data on this topic were provided, among others, by information stolen by Edward Snowden. According to it (verified, among others, by "Der Spiegel"), China carried out a multi-year, extensive operation aimed at Lockheed Martin and its subcontractors worldwide (including companies from Australia, Israel, Canada, and the UK).
The result was the theft of about 100 terabytes of data related to the F-35 aircraft, which helped the Chinese aviation sector catch up with over a decade of development and research work within 2 years. The stolen information pertained to, among other things, avionics systems, crucial engine parts, anti-radar coatings, and exhaust gas cooling methods, allowing for reduction of the aircraft's thermal signature.
The technology thief
The F-35 case—although probably the most spectacular (at least among those revealed)—is not the only one. Through cyberattacks or the work of agents, China acquired terabytes of data on American submarines, the Patriot air defence system, and B-2 Spirit bombers.
Among the proven thefts is an operation conducted by China using an agent employed at Boeing and a company established in Canada specialising in cable production, used in the onboard installations of aircraft.
The result of this action was the theft of 630,000 files belonging to Boeing, containing information about the F-35, F-22, and, primarily, the C-17 transport aircraft. This information allowed China to accelerate work on its own transport aircraft, now known as the Y-20.
However, the targets of Chinese attacks are not only the United States. Back in the 1980s, using reverse engineering, China copied, among other things, the French Crotale air defence system, creating the HQ-9 set.
Even earlier, in the 1960s—after cooling relations with the Soviet Union—Beijing copied the Soviet MiG-21 aircraft, which was subsequently produced in China under the name J-7. The Shenyang J-11 (Su-27) and Shenyang J-15 (Su-33) are also unlicensed copies of Russian aircraft.
