The House panel responsible for defense policy oversight has launched a review of an incident involving potentially sensitive F-35 fighter jet parts that were diverted this year after departing Australia and arriving in Hong Kong, according to committee spokesperson Heather Vaughan. Politico reported the parts were supposed to head to the US for repair, but the shipment was rerouted and ultimately showed up in Hong Kong, raising alarms about possible reverse engineering of classified elements.
Politico also reported that a middleman moved the shipment on behalf of Lockheed Martin Corp., and that the load included a canopy from the aircraft. That canopy sits over the cockpit and incorporates stealth features available only to the US and allied nations. It is unclear why the route changed or who currently has the parts.
Vaughan said, "The committee is aware of this issue and we've received multiple briefings on it," adding the panel is "continuing to look into the incident and conduct oversight." A US official said program officials plan to brief committee staff as soon as Tuesday.
The Pentagon's F-35 program office said it is aware of "a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 components" and is coordinating with US authorities and industry partners "to retrieve these components, investigate the incident, and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence." The office would not identify which parts were involved or define "unserviceable," including whether any pieces were beyond repair.
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Lockheed Martin, which oversees the F-35 program's global logistics and relies on commercial shippers to move parts, said it "for security reasons can't discuss the status of specific shipments or shipping procedures. Our teams handle every shipment with the utmost diligence and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the program and the security of our allied partners."
Set aside this diversion for a moment and there is a bigger, ongoing headache: the Pentagon still lacks clear visibility into the F-35 parts pipeline. For the sixth year in a row, breakdowns in accounting for spares and equipment were labeled a material weakness that helped sink the military's overall financial audit, according to the Pentagon's comptroller and inspector general.
Australia serves as the Indo-Pacific hub for F-35 parts and maintenance supporting Asian allies, and the F-35 is billed as the world's largest aircraft program. Any questions about secure handling or logistics reliability can ripple across suppliers and contractors in that network. Keep an eye on the committee briefings and the program office's recovery steps as the next markers for how this gets resolved.
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