Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said his country was assisting the United States in investigating the accidental diversion of F-35 fighter parts to Hong Kong, after components being transported from Australia to the United States for repairs went missing. Marles ruled out the loss in the incident of any “sensitive” technical components belonging to the fighter programme.
US investigation after shipment’s destination changed
The investigation came amid US concerns that components linked to the F-35 programme may have reached China. Reports by US media, including Bloomberg and Politico, said the shipment’s destination was changed earlier in the summer of 2026, while it was crossing the Pacific from Australia to the United States.
The US Defence Department confirmed that some components had gone missing, while Congress announced an investigation into the circumstances of the incident. The US State Department declined to comment, while the Chinese embassy said it was unaware of the incident. Marles told reporters in Adelaide that the Australian federal government had been “informed” of the problem and was co-operating with the US side to establish what had happened.
He added: “It is clear that we are working with the United States and its prime contractor here, Lockheed Martin, in relation to this matter.” Politico quoted three sources as saying that an intermediary had been transporting the shipment on behalf of Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of F-35 fighters, before it ended up in Hong Kong.
Cockpit canopy raises technology concerns
According to the sources, the shipment included the fighter’s cockpit canopy, a component that covers the cockpit and incorporates stealth technology possessed only by the United States and its allies. The shipment’s unexpected arrival in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, raised concerns in US circles that the missing components had come under Beijing’s sphere of influence.
Nevertheless, Australia’s defence minister downplayed what appeared to be a security error in the shipment’s route. In a statement, the US War Department’s F-35 programme office said it was aware of a problem involving a shipment of unusable components. It added that it was working with US authorities and industry partners “to recover them, investigate the incident and establish preventative measures to avoid this happening in the future”.
Recovering components and strengthening shipping procedures
Lockheed Martin manages the programme’s overall supply chain and also relies on commercial shipping companies to transport components. In a statement, the company said it could not discuss the status of shipments for security reasons, while affirming that it follows all US regulations governing the shipment of aircraft components.
Australia maintains a fleet of 72 F-35 fighters and is one of seven other countries sharing a pool of spare parts for the fighter aircraft programme. The programme gives the United States and participating countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Norway and Poland, access to a shared stockpile of spare parts distributed around the world and owned by the US War Department.
A US Government Accountability Office report issued in 2023 previously found that more than one million spare parts for F-35 aircraft had gone missing over the preceding five years. Parts shortages effectively take the fighters out of service in many cases.
A report issued by the office this year, which included an assessment of the fighter programme, described as the world’s most expensive, also found that its performance had declined as maintenance costs increased. The Pentagon expects the programme’s expenditure over its entire service life to reach about two trillion dollars.
