Brig Ali planned attack on(Pakistani Army)GHQ with F-16 plane

Brigadier Ali Khan, currently facing court martial for alleged links with the banned Hizbut Tahrir, had conspired with an air force pilot to bomb the General Headquarters with an F-16 jet during a conference of the corps commanders, reported BBC on Thursday.

Brig Ali Khan was arrested last year on suspicion of having contacts with the Hizbut Tahrir.

He has been accused of trying to stage a rebellion against the government and planning an attack on the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. His family has denied the charges.

Major Suhail Akbar, a prosecution witness, said in his statement that Khan and some members of Hizbut Tahrir had told him that an F-16 combat jet would be used to target the army headquarters during a conference of corps or formation commanders.

Akbar said in his written statement to a military court that an F-16 pilot at a military airbase near Rawalpindi was persuaded to carry out the attack.

Akbar further said Khan also had plans to target an ‘American-controlled airbase’ in Pakistan and installations of the Blackwater security company with an F-16, BBC Urdu reported.

Akbar admitted that he had been meeting Hizb members for seven years. He claimed Khan was present at a meeting of Hizbut Tahrir members in July 2010.

Those questions are neither hypothetical nor psychological. You seem to be too content with the idea that a simple kill switch is a solution to a jihadi pilot on a mission while you haven't even considered the other factors I asked in the questions.

A jihadi pilot isnt necessarily going to be some burnt out war vet going on a killing spree that a flight surgeon would easily pick up (even in those case they don't often pick up the tell tell sign). A jihad mission on the other hand would be a very well planned and calculated mission involving many well experienced, (possibly) high ranking and perfectly rational people. For all you know the flight surgeon himself would be in collusion with such a mission. Getting prior warning signal will be extremely difficult. I seriously doubt US has an ability to tell in advance which Pakistani pilot has gone jihadi and would most likely rely on Pakistan to provide that information is time. The internal dynamics of Pakistani government and military is volatile and their communication channels with US is at best tenuous.

Unless you have actually considered scenarios, I don't see any situation in which a kill switch can possibly serve as a realistic option to neutralize a threat from a jihadi pilot. Its only loose techno-geek-talk thrown out there that doesn't carry any weight.

Once a pakistani jihadi pilot is airborne over pakistani airspace and is set to take out some American HVT inside Pakistan or in the border region of Afghaistan-Pakistan.....#1 it will be extremely difficult to distinguish a routine mission from a jihadi mission unless given actual prior warning with ample time to react. There could be a number of reasons for a pilot to stray off course under normal circumstances. That is not necessarily a jihadi threat. Unless clear and specific warning comes from Pakistan, there is not too many options or reaction time available for the US to neutralize a Pakistani jet that is already overhead and about to launch its payload.

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