Media reports said on Friday that the US Congress had opened an investigation into the rerouting of a shipment containing spare parts for F-35 fighter jets. The shipment was travelling from Australia to the United States for maintenance work before unexpectedly heading towards Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China.
Rerouting of the shipment and F-35 components
Politico reported that an irregularity occurred last summer during the transfer of fighter-jet parts between countries. Citing three informed sources, it said the shipment had been sent through an intermediary company for maintenance, but its route changed for an unknown reason, while its exact location remains unknown. The parts in the shipment include a cockpit canopy equipped with classified technology.
The sources said that the shipment's arrival in Hong Kong would have placed it within Beijing's sphere of influence, suggesting that the congressional investigation may have begun amid concerns that sensitive components of the fighter-jet system could reach Chinese authorities. The F-35 Joint Programme Office, part of the US Department of Defence, said it was aware of the irregularity that occurred while unusable components of the aircraft were being transported.
Programme office announces recovery and investigation measures
In a statement, the office said it was working with US officials and industry partners to recover the components and investigate the incident. It added that the work also included taking the necessary measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
US company Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-35 fighter jets, said it could not disclose information about the status of shipments for security reasons, stressing that all transport operations were carried out with the utmost care and protection. The F-35 programme, which involves the United States and other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Norway and Poland, uses a specialised system to manage the movement of fighter-jet spare parts.
Participating countries can access a shared stockpile of parts distributed at various locations around the world. A 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office found that more than one million spare parts for F-35 fighter jets had been lost over the previous five years.
The oversight agency concluded that the Department of War had been unable to review spare-parts losses, estimated at tens of millions of dollars, because Lockheed Martin controlled the related information.
