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What (if any) sort of pilot authentication systems do fighter jets have?

Could anyone with the required skills simply take the aircraft or is a key or authorization code required?

user371366
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    This question brought to you by screenwriters of the next xXx franchise film. – DVK Apr 11 '17 at 22:51
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    Related: http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/9005/what-stops-planes-from-being-stolen – Fabio says Reinstate Monica Apr 11 '17 at 23:06
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    Based on my extensive research, I'd say that it looks quite hard. – Richard Apr 11 '17 at 23:09
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    You really think you want pilots looking for keys when they have to scramble? – Loren Pechtel Apr 12 '17 at 05:08
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    Planes, tanks, trains, trams, buses - they usually don't have any keys. If you can get in and know how to operate one, you can do it. Large organizations operating them tend to rely on procedures, not on mechanisms. – Agent_L Apr 12 '17 at 08:41
  • @Agent_L, and heavily-armed guards, backed up by radar networks, surface-to-air missiles, other fighter jets to pursue, a limited number of places to land... – Technophile Apr 12 '17 at 19:25
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    Regarding the latest edit...that's not a spelling error, that's the English (proper) way to spell it ;) – Notts90 Apr 12 '17 at 20:06
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    @Notts90 uh oh, here comes a controversy. Honestly, as a canadian, I have no idea where I'm supposd to stand on this one. As a programmer though, US spellings have been beaten into my head. – user371366 Apr 12 '17 at 20:50
  • @Notts90 Also, kind of annoying that my minor edit covered up your name, since you're responsible for most of the phrasing and appropriateness of the question – user371366 Apr 12 '17 at 20:52
  • @dn3s no worries, just pointing out it's not an "error". – Notts90 Apr 12 '17 at 22:20
  • When I saw this on the HNQ, I thought this was an Arqade question. – AAM111 Apr 12 '17 at 22:49
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    Most fighter jets are protected by large numbers of people with guns that don't want you to take the plane. – Robert Columbia Apr 13 '17 at 02:39
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    I guess I'm a little disappointed by the emphasis a lot of comments/answers are placing on external protections. It's really not new information that military equipment on a military base will be guarded by military personnel. I mean, I have nothing against witty quips, but it seems people actually think someone might be unaware that fighter jets are kept under armed guard. – user371366 Apr 13 '17 at 06:54
  • This is how you steal a fighter jet (in movies, at least). BTW they have some of the best aerial shots. – kevin Apr 13 '17 at 14:37
  • @Notts90 The French way, you mean :) – hobbs Apr 13 '17 at 18:00
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    When you're Clint Eastwood, stealing a fighter jet is actually quite easy. It's getting there that takes all the work. – Omegacron Apr 13 '17 at 18:28
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    As Omegacron mentions, one option to avoid the physical security is to disguise yourself as the official pilot, a la Clint Eastwood in Firefox. – DrMcCleod Apr 13 '17 at 21:11
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    @Omegacron Provided you can think in Russian. – Spehro Pefhany Apr 14 '17 at 19:40
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    @dn3s: You asked what pilot authentication system fighter jets use. People are answering that the pilot authentication system consists of the military forces surrounding the aircraft, rather than anything internal. People are emphasizing the external protections not because they think you didn't realize the external protections exist, but because you weren't aware that the external protections are the answer to your question. – user2357112 Apr 14 '17 at 19:46
  • @DrMcCleod - Da, et vazhno. – Omegacron Apr 14 '17 at 19:49
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    @dn3s We're sorry that the answer to your quesiton is more boring than you were hoping for. Unfortunately, the answer is the answer. – David Richerby Apr 15 '17 at 14:42
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    @DavidRicherby sorry, my comment came off more bitter than I meant. I do think we have some good answers here! – user371366 Apr 15 '17 at 18:23
  • I don't know, ask him https://aviation.stackexchange.com/users/16965/fighterjet – MCMastery Apr 15 '17 at 20:00
  • That spelling modification upsets me. It's not a correction. There are far more countries in which the -s- spelling is standard, than where the -z- spelling is standard. English was the language of England long before it was spoken in USA. You can kind of tell that from the name. There is no earthly reason for Americans to impose their spelling norms on the rest of the English-speaking world. Please, can we nip this kind of anti-correction in the bud? – Dawood ibn Kareem Apr 16 '17 at 02:48
  • @DavidWallace http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/03/ize-or-ise/ – hobbs Apr 16 '17 at 18:21
  • Yes, I'm aware. It doesn't justify changing someone else's perfectly correct spelling. – Dawood ibn Kareem Apr 16 '17 at 19:05
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    i made the edit because it was originally my question, with my name under it, and it isn't how I would spell the word. It's not like having a question with my name on it with "authorisation" is some unbearable embarassment, but it's very low cost to change it so why not? It's just an (extremely minor) way of expressing (an extremely peripheral aspect of) myself. – user371366 Apr 16 '17 at 20:09
  • I'd imagine they're not for the same reason ambulances are often left with the keys in them. When a fighter jet needs to move, it needs to move, and those 30 seconds that it takes to turn the key or read your fingerprint or whatever could be the difference between life and death, especially if the jet is fine but the startup system is broken. –  Apr 16 '17 at 21:53
  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Farhan Apr 17 '17 at 14:07
  • A more practical question would be : Can a DHC-2 Beaver be stolen after having crashed a Chevy Impala against the airport's fences ? – user721108 Apr 29 '17 at 18:17

7 Answers7

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Military aircraft rarely have any sort of keys or any sort of authentication systems, they rely on physical security measures to prevent people from getting to the airplanes in the first place, like fences, dogs, cameras, guards, and of course guns.

If there were no physical barriers then you have 3 major barriers to being able to steal a fighter jet:

  1. Support: just about every military fighter aircraft has an assigned crew to prepare it for flight and help the pilot(s) get in it. Without this crew you'd have to get the airplane powered up, fueled up, and then you'd have to figure out how to get into it and get the ladder removed. There's a lot of knowledge you'd need to do all this, just knowing how to open the canopy isn't going to be immediately obvious
  2. Starting: starting up a fighter isn't like starting a car, you don't hit a button and everything happens for you, there's fuel tanks and pumps, hydraulic systems, electrical systems, and engine management. You'd have to know where to find all of the switches, dials and levers, and the sequence in which to use them. This isn't something you'd be able to guess, you'd need knowledge of the particular airplane
  3. Flying: high performance jets are challenging to fly, and by flying I mean aviating, navigating, and communicating. Although modern fighters have a lot of computers to help out with this the systems require a great deal of training to use, and if you don't know exactly what you are doing you are most likely going to dig a big hole in the ground

If you know how to start and fly the airplane there's nothing stopping you from doing it, provided you can solve the problems of prepping and getting in the airplane. In fact, it's been done when pilots defect with their airplanes, see the comments below for some great examples.

GdD
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    That said, fighter jets are occasionally "stolen", most typically by fighter pilots who defect from their country of origin using said fighter jet as their means of escape. This usually happens during what should otherwise be a normal training exercise, which takes care of the issues of getting access to, starting, and taking off with the aircraft in the first instance. – J... Apr 11 '17 at 12:06
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    Slight quibble with #3; many fighters are supposedly quite easy to fly if you fly them straight and level as you would a 737. The difficult part is flying them under combat conditions and using their capabilities effectively, which could be needed if you stole one and were detected by the owners. – Eric Hauenstein Apr 11 '17 at 13:16
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    @J... This is my favorite example of a pilot defecting and stealing an airplane. I love it because of what happened when he landed, of course, and totally not because his name makes my inner 13-year old laugh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Kum-sok – Kevin Apr 11 '17 at 13:19
  • The problem is getting the aircraft into the air. If you are a defecting pilot, you have access to the fighter and a team of people who will help you get it into the air. – Karl Gjertsen Apr 11 '17 at 13:42
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    I understand your quibble @EricHauenstein. By flying I am including the navigation, communication and systems management required to get anywhere and land safely. I've edited to make that more clear. – GdD Apr 11 '17 at 13:42
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    I think a very important follow up question would be, "I've stolen a fighter plane. How do I stay alive and not get shot down immediately?" – BruceWayne Apr 11 '17 at 15:08
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    @BruceWayne The follow up answer of course being "I'm a fighter pilot; I have been trained thousands of hours to avoid being shot down and escape any radar." – Jens Apr 11 '17 at 18:00
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    @Kevin That's a great story. My favorite part is that a) they tried to give it back and b) North Korea wouldn't claim it. The sad part is that his friends and remaining family were executed – TomMcW Apr 11 '17 at 19:32
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    "Military aircraft rarely have any sort of keys or any sort of authentication systems" In that case I believe the insurance won't work. It's contributory negligence. – mins Apr 11 '17 at 20:08
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    @BruceWayne Such a question would immediately solicit comments such as "Why are you [I hope you're not] posting your question here instead of flying the plane?" – Michael Apr 11 '17 at 20:25
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    Perhaps you don't need to fly it to steal it. If you can get past all the other physical defenses, can you get it on a flatbed and drive off with it? – kojiro Apr 11 '17 at 21:29
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    @kojiro They don't look like it, but fighters are actually VERY big. The F18 is 56 feet long with a 40 foot wingspan. The biggest 18-wheelers are 7o feet long and 20 feet across. They're about the same height. Yes, fighter planes are about as big as a semi trailer, but twice as wide. – Shane Apr 11 '17 at 21:44
  • @GdD: How would the navigation be significantly different from a light aircraft, once the higher speed is taken into account? I'd assume you don't particularly want to communicate - in fact, may want to avoid communication (and detection). – jamesqf Apr 11 '17 at 22:25
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    Key don't use keys because there is no point. It takes a lot to get one of these things ready. They don't usually just sit around, and if they are just sitting around then you don't want a fast take off slowed down by "I forgot my keys" – coteyr Apr 11 '17 at 23:50
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    @jamesqf - in a very real way there not much different. Pitch, yaw, thrust, and roll all kep you up and pointed in the right direction. But EVERY aircraft - civilian or military has it's own "things" that need to be done. Here is an example for a 747 http://www.onebag.com/popups/747checklist.pdf Keep in mind that some jets take a "huffer" to start their engines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0bPW3mV0RE Try using the huffer cart, and the jet and wearing those pants. – coteyr Apr 11 '17 at 23:55
  • What is largely different is speed and maneuverability. "How fast is a 1 min turn in a F16?" (it's 1 min just in case your wondering) but can you even do a 1 min turn or is the control too sensitive. Where is the throttle in this thing https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ce/5a/6a/ce5a6ab3aa591f7bd855dd58a1da5569.jpg And more important are you waring a G-suite or are you going to black out the first time you turn? – coteyr Apr 11 '17 at 23:59
  • @coteyr: Sure, there are going to be a lot of differences in flying the plane. I just meant the navigation part - I Follow Roads, right :-) In any case, my ambitions never extended to jets, I just wanted an OV-10. – jamesqf Apr 12 '17 at 05:19
  • The question explicitly states someone with the required skills, so all boils down to physical access and depending on the type of aircraft support needed to start it up externally (so simply steal some aircraft where you don't need anyone external) – PlasmaHH Apr 12 '17 at 07:43
  • There's a lovely fictional example of this, grounded firmly in reality, in Adam Hall's The Sinkiang Executive (1978) where the protagonist relies on a combination of surprise and the usually-authoritarian treatment of the Soviet Union ground crew to bully them into readying a fighter for his escape. He also flies into the mission in a defector's (fictional) MiG 28D and uses bluff, rank, and an allegedly-defective radio to survive for long enough to penetrate Soviet airspace. – Matt Gibson Apr 12 '17 at 10:08
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    Lol, it was my childhood dream, to steal a jet fighter... – PaulD Apr 13 '17 at 13:51
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    I flew combat attack jets and would say that taking off is challenging until one gets use to the aircraft's characteristics. For example, on takeoff the acceleration is quite quick and it is easy to end up "behind the aircraft," and sitting as it were on the end of the runway. This has implications near rotation and once airborne. Once airborne they would be relatively easy to maintain straight and level if you had some training. – Aaron Apr 14 '17 at 21:35
  • The OP is really asking a very specific question, *do modern fighterds have keys*? (Or some similar system - a security pinpad, perhaps a $3 fingerprint scanner from an iPhone, or the like.) Indeed, the OP even very specifically pointed out they are already aware of all the obvious difficulties of "hopping in and taking off". – Fattie Apr 15 '17 at 13:14
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    @Fattie That's after some edits that changed the original question quite a bit. The original was little more than "what prevents me from stealing a military jet?" Changing the question in this manner is generally considered rude, but this answer still answers the question as it is now - "Nope." The extra information is still valuable, since it shows why there's no point to having keys. – Luaan Apr 16 '17 at 23:32
  • @LUann - understood, good point. Don't you hate changing question targets? (Must be like a runway that slides around or something :) ) (Actually I guess it's like a carrier landing for you pilot folks! :) ) – Fattie Apr 17 '17 at 13:24
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I was a pilot attached to Attack Squadron 86 flying A7-E's during the mid-1980's and here is a case where one of our jets was nearly stolen. It is not what you might guess, and as GdD pointed out above, maintenance support nabbed the pilot. To this day I am amazed at the guy's audacity. Don't know what happened to him after this encounter. I was the Officer of the Day when this event occurred.

Our squadron was going through qualifications and we were responsible for providing the aircraft for the referee/spotters on a particular flight. The referee showed up from down the field and checked himself in with maintenance, going through the Aircraft Discrepancy Book. He went out to the aircraft on the apron and hopped in after his preflight.

Shortly after he left maintenance another pilot came scrambling in all suited up and ready to go. He told the maintenance chief to give him a plane, and our chief obliged not knowing who the heck he was. After going through the discrepancies the pilot headed out to our aircraft and the Chief gave me a call.

I went down to the flight line and found the pilot getting ready to climb into the cockpit after doing a kick the tires, light the fires pre-flight. I was a bit surprised to see a guy I had come through Replacement Air Group (RAG) training with. I asked him who he was flying with, and he said he was part of the flight going out. "You are not listed as one of the referees Bob." He came back, "Oh, yeah, I'm not. I was just gonna catch a flight out in one of your birds."

This is like walking up to your neighbor's house, the neighbor you never talk to, grabbing the keys to his Ferrari and taking it out for a test spin. "Hmm, no, I don't think so. Go home Bob."

Aaron
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Can a fighter jet be stolen?

Absolutely, no key required. There was the case of a lance corporal who took a USMC A-4 Skyhawk for a joyride in 1986. See: Marine Mechanic Stole An A-4M-Skyhawk.

21-year-old Lance Corporal Howard A. Foote Jr. went for a joyride after learning he can no longer pursue a flying career in the military. He was only experienced in gliders.

A load of charges were brought against the Lance Corporal, including misappropriating the truck he used to get to the aircraft and the Skyhawk itself, as well as damaging an aircraft and disobeying regulations. He was also charged with hazarding a vessel, flying without proper training or approval and recklessly disregarding the plane’s mechanical condition at the time of flight.

Many of these charges were dropped, but Foote still could have faced nine years of hard labor, forfeiture of all pay, demotion to private and a dishonorable discharge.

Gustav
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Could someone steal a jet fighter? Sure. But as mentioned above there are a few obstacles to doing this.

First you're going to have to get to a jet fighter which means you're going to need access to the flight line of a secure military facility and have to pass a number of sentries and obstacles guarded by big mean men with guns who are authorized, if necessary, to shoot trespassers; you can't just walk off the street and onto a flight line without garnering attention and apprehension by the authorities.

If somehow you could get through the defenses of such an installation and get access to a jet, you're going to have to suit up in the proper life support equipment or there's a risk the jet itself could kill you during operations, vis a vis hypoxia, G induced loss of consciousness followed by CFIT, etc. It also has on-board equipment like pyrotechnic charges for canopy jettison and rocket powered ejection seats which can kill if mishandled by a neophyte. You're going to have to have a good understanding of this equipment, how to connect and use it in the jet and how to handle various emergencies involving it.

After that, you're going to have to make your way onto a line with jets which are properly maintained in a flight ready condition, pre-flighted, and fueled. The latter is rarely done unless the aircraft is scheduled for a flight. Failure to properly pre-flight the aircraft will probably result in mechanical failure and departure from controlled flight. An armed jet with ordnance on the wing/weapons bay stations or ammunition in the gun magazine is even rarer. Such jets do exist but are usually kept in even more sterile and secure places places e.g. HAS, etc.

You will also have to know how to operate the thing. As mentioned above, high speed flight in a high performance aircraft would probably saturate and overwhelm the average Joe of Jane on the street, leading to a catastrophic accident. Sometimes jets require external start equipment and additional personnel to power up, so this might not be a one man job. Ironically combat aircraft are fairly easy to start - if you know what you're doing and what you're looking for.

And starting up a jet will attract a lot of negative attention; again the big mean men with the M-16s aren't going to casually sit back and let you taxi the jet from the parking apron to a runway.

And even if you did get the thing airborne, where are you going to go? You only have a finite amount of fuel on board and that jet goes through it pretty quickly. You have, at best, about 1000 NM of range before you run out of gas and into the arms of the law on some very serious charges. You're also likely to be intercepted by armed jet fighters flown by trained and experienced fighter pilots who will either motivate you to return the aircraft or shoot you down if they or their commanders feel you pose an immediate threat.

As mentioned above, aircraft theft of that nature usually is an inside job such as an existing military officer and appropriately rated pilot stealing a jet in order to defect to another country. There have been a few unauthorized appropriations of a military jet in the past such as this USAF mechanic taking an F-86 on an inadvertent solo flight after a botched high speed taxi test. Fortunately most thieves have been dumber than a bag of rocks and totally ignorant to operations of an aircraft, so their attempts usually don't go far as this car thief's attempt to steal a life flight helicopter from a hospital went.

Lilienthal
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Romeo_4808N
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Anything can be stolen.

If by "steal" you mean get into a fighter and fly it off by yourself, it depends on which aircraft it is and various other factors.

Many older jets cannot be cold started by just the pilot. They require a special device called an APU to spin up the engines. You would need help to operate the APU. Newer jets can be cold started by the pilot, but there are still various obstacles. The first problem is that unless the jet is on standby, it will likely be unfueled or only be partially fueled. So, if you just picked a random hangared jet to steal, it might only have 20% of a tank or less of fuel, which would limit you to a range of a few hundred miles.

Of course, if you are stealing a jet, why not steal some fuel, too? Usually fueling a high-performance fighter is a two-man job because the hose and nozzle are wicked heavy, but I suppose if you don't mind getting a hernia, you might be able to do it by yourself.

Another problem will be getting into the plane. How are you going to get up there? Get a rollaway ladder you say? Ok, and now that you are in the cockpit, what are you going to do with the rollaway? Drive over it with the aircraft? Nice move top gun.

Once you are in there, you are good to go. Military jets do not have keys. (Even most civilian aircraft have pretty rudimentary locks. Old Cessnas have ignition locks that can be picked by an 8-year-old with a bobby pin. Also, the panel is just a sheet of plastic, so you can always just reach behind the panel and connect the wires.)

Why do you ask? Planning on sneaking on to the local air base?

Tyler Durden
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I won't get into specifics, but newer aircraft are taking this into consideration and employing authentication/authorization features. This could be as simple as a key you turn like in your car or as complicated as your helmet performing a retinal/iris scan before allowing the engines to ignite, weapons to arm, etc.

The other benefit of these measures is that preferences can be saved and it could allow a pilot to take their preferences with them from plane to plane.

So, older planes are totally steal-able (Discovery or someone actually has an airplane repo show where they kind of do just that), but newer planes will be more secure and "thieves" (or repo men or whoever) will need various "hot wire" like techniques to get around the security.

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    On the other hand, older fighter airplane models might be too difficult to fly for a pilot who does not have first-hand experience on that model. An extreme case would be a Lockheed SR-71 ("Blackbird"). Lockheed eventually replaced the analogue computers with digital ones which could better cope with abrupt input on the yoke. Still, the pilot could accidentally cause the engine to shut down. The amount of catalyst to restart an engine in flight was limited. Of course, the SR-71 had other issues which could prevent a successful theft: one is that it had to refuel in flight after takeoff. – Klaws Apr 13 '17 at 09:47
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    @Klaws The SR-71 isn't a fighter. – David Richerby Apr 13 '17 at 11:18
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    @DavidRicherby: They did make a fighter variant. The US military didn't buy it. NASA bought up the prototypes. – Joshua Apr 16 '17 at 15:50
  • These days busses and trucks have security features, so that even a driver cannot just take a vehicle. I'm amazed, that this has not been the case for jet fighters. I'm also amazed, that the fighters don't have locks, as this is a measure often employed for small planes. – mike Apr 23 '17 at 18:22
  • A co-worker was base commander at Beale and told of a U-2 that someone tried to take when it was off-base after a diversion. He comments that aside from ground support issues, there are no real security measures on that aircraft and on the SR-71. He doesn't have first hand knowledge of the broad classification of "fighter" aircraft as he only flew a few of them. – mongo May 03 '17 at 14:53
  • Never seen evidence of authentication or other security systems for fighters. I’d need more specifics. – Romeo_4808N Jun 09 '19 at 13:37
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Once, in 1997, an A-10 pilot 'stole' the aircraft he was flying, (broke off from his flight and his assigned training mission), and disappeared from ground radar. His wrecked aircraft was later found in the side of a mountain in Colorado. It was assumed that he committed suicide.

See this article for details.

In order to 'steal' a military jet, you would have to be proficient enough in that type of aircraft to safely take off and fly the aircraft. So, the pilots who would be capable of doing this are necessarily limited to a small number of people, most of whom are military trained pilots.

Charles Bretana
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  • I would disagree with your statement that there is a small number of people who can "steal" a military plane. There are many people, some pilots, some non-military pilots, and lots of maintenance people who would be able to operate a plane. I will give you credit on the A-10 incident; good point. – mongo May 03 '17 at 14:49
  • Well, I guess that depends on how you would define small. It's certainly "small" when compared to the number of people currently alive, and still "small", imho, compared to the number of pilots alive, and, probably, still less than 10% (is that "small"? compared to the number of living military pilots (at least not without some training in-type). – Charles Bretana May 03 '17 at 16:57
  • To steal an aircraft, one does not need training in-type. If one is smart enough to be flight trained, one is smart enough to find open source operational information. Besides the procedures on many aircraft are not radically different. I never ever operated a tank, yet with about 30 minutes training, I was running an untrained crew (with 30 minutes also) on a tank simulator at Ft. Knox. I have no time in fighter aircraft, yet after a 5 minute briefing I was taking off and doing maneuvers in a full motion simulator. Give me enough motivation, and who knows what might be possible! – mongo May 03 '17 at 18:03
  • @monge, If you think that simply knowing the procedures is sufficient to operate a high performance jet aircraft safely, you are wrong. Take a physicist with total knowledge of the physics, aerodynamics and structural knowledge of what happens when a man swings a bat to hit a baseball, and stand him up with a bat in front of a major league pitcher. And your simulator analogy does not hold water. Ask any military pilot qualified on a high performance aircraft that uses simulators what happened the first time he/she attempted to land one. With experience in other jets, sure, but a novice. no. – Charles Bretana Dec 17 '17 at 17:10
  • I respectfully disagree with your comment. My experience and that of my colleagues is such that with exposure to the aircraft, knowing the procedures and having familiarity would be enough to operate most aircraft adequately to "steal" one. The theft does not exercise the full gamut of aircraft performance, and many of the operations have analogs with similar aircraft. Sure, there are exceptions which are operational today, like the U-2 and the AV-8B. And if one were performing arrested landings or assisted takeoffs there might be issues. – mongo Dec 17 '17 at 21:41
  • Well, also respectfully, I guess I am saying is that this would depend on the nature of the "exposure" to the aircraft an individual has experienced. If this exposure is only of an academic, intellectual nature, and not kinesthetic knowledge, then you would fail, – Charles Bretana Dec 17 '17 at 22:24