Classified F-35 Parts Ended Up in Hong Kong During Transport, Where They Disappeared

A shipment of F-35 parts containing classified technology, which was being sent from Australia to the U.S. for repairs, was rerouted while in transit across the Pacific Ocean to Hong Kong, where some of the parts went missing.

This was reported by POLITICO.

As the publication notes, the incident raises the likelihood that technology from a top-secret defense program could have fallen into the hands of a foreign adversary—specifically China.

The Pentagon has confirmed the disappearance of some components. It is currently unclear why the equipment, which was being transported by a third-party company, changed its route and who now possesses it.

The incident prompted a series of closed-door briefings for staff members of key congressional committees on national security. According to the publication’s sources, officials from the State Department and the Pentagon first briefed staff in June, and several additional briefings are expected in the coming weeks.

According to two sources, among the parts shipped was a fighter jet canopy, which covers the pilot’s cockpit and incorporates stealth technology accessible only to the U.S. and its allies.

The canopy, a critical component of the F-35’s stealth technology, is an acrylic dome over the pilot’s cockpit, coated with a thin layer of transparent radar-absorbing material that helps conceal the aircraft from enemy radar.

Australia has technical depots for maintaining F-35 fighter jets, but none of them are currently capable of repairing canopy domes.

The F-35 program has a unique system for managing the flow of spare parts. Participating countries have access to a shared pool of spare parts stored around the world that belong to the U.S. Department of Defense until they are installed on a fighter jet. However, the U.S. Department of Defense does not maintain an inventory of the international spare parts pool—Lockheed Martin does, using commercial logistics providers to transport the parts.

A 2023 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that over 1 million F-35 spare parts have gone missing over the past five years.

As a reminder, in early September it was reported that the cost of F-35 fighters in new U.S.-manufactured production lots had increased by approximately 11%.

The average cost of an F-35A in production lots 18 and 19 will be about $92 million. The cost of the F-35B, capable of short takeoff and vertical landing, rose from $109 million to $121.4 million. The carrier-based F-35C saw the smallest price increase—from $102.1 million to $110.8 million.