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Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles has confirmed that some components belonging to the country’s F-35 fighter jets, which were being sent to the United States for repairs, were diverted from their route and sent to Hong Kong.
The Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the head of Australia’s Ministry of Defense made the statement to reporters in Adelaide.
According to Politico, F-35 parts shipped from Australia to the United States via a transit point this summer unexpectedly changed route. The cargo was transported by a logistics intermediary acting on behalf of Lockheed Martin, the main manufacturer of F-35 aircraft. Authorities are investigating why the components arrived in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, and who currently controls them.
The incident has reportedly caused serious concern in the US Congress because it could create a risk of China gaining access to strategic military technologies.
The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office has confirmed that some non-serviceable components are missing. A US Defense Department spokesperson said appropriate security mechanisms had been activated to recover the components, investigate the cause of the incident and prevent similar cases in the future.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said he believed the missing shipment did not contain highly classified or sensitive technologies. He stressed that all processes on the Australian side were being reviewed transparently and that his country had fully met its obligations under the program. The minister added that Lockheed Martin and relevant US agencies, which are responsible for managing the global supply chain, were working to resolve the matter.
Lockheed Martin said it could not provide details about the status of military shipments for security reasons, but added that it had acted in accordance with strict security rules established by the US Defense Logistics Agency.
The F-35 program is a multinational defense initiative involving the United States and partner countries. Its supply chain spans multiple countries, making the tracking and secure transport of aircraft components an important part of program management.
