The big F-35 jet mystery: Parts bound for US, missing in Hong Kong, seized by China

At a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is in the US, Washington is grappling with a mystery involving its most advanced fighter jet. Sensitive parts of an F-35 stealth fighter jet, bound for the US from Australia, mysteriously landed in Hong Kong in May. Now, according to a report in Bloomberg, the parts have been seized by China - a major US military rival.

Both Australia and the Pentagon have launched an investigation into how the F-35 jet parts wound up in Hong Kong - a special administrative region of China. The components included a cockpit canopy and weapons bay door. Both were coated with a radar-absorbing material that enhances the jet's stealth capabilities - a capability that took the US decades to perfect.

WHY IS IT A CONCERN FOR THE US?

China said it was not aware of any such incident. But what the world is aware of is the influence China wields in Hong Kong.

In recent years, China has strengthened its grip on Hong Kong through strict national security laws. They allow Beijing to crack down on dissent in the city.

The F-35 is the centrepiece of American air power, and its value rests largely on secrecy. Now, China's access to such components could potentially give its military insights into sensitive US technologies that help the F-35 evade radar and expose its vulnerabilities.

Over the years, the US has closely guarded F-35 technologies. This is why Washington has been reluctant to sell the jet to countries other than its NATO allies. However, Donald Trump, in a rare move, approved the sale of 48 F-35s to Saudi Arabia last week.

The concern within the US security circle is that China might reverse-engineer the F-35 components to improve its own stealth aircraft, such as the J-20 and J-35. Additionally, China could potentially develop countermeasures, weakening the advantage the F-35 was built to deliver.

"It is no secret that China has been aggressively trying to get F-35 data through electronic espionage, among other means," JJ Gertler, a military aviation analyst, told Politico.

"However, possessing a real one (jet parts) can give them even more to go on and can verify or refine whatever they already had learned," he further said.

Thus, the potential breach in the shipping chain is a serious matter.

HOW DID F-35 JET PARTS LAND UP IN HONG KONG?

But how did the F-35 parts land up in Hong Kong in the first place?

The Australian air force fleet includes 72 F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter jets. In May, shipping giant UPS was tasked with sending the F-35 parts to the US for repairs, as per US media reports.

Data showed the shipment stopped in South Korea en route to the US, and from there it was inexplicably diverted to Hong Kong. Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government later took possession of the parts, and has not returned them so far.

Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the F-35, manages the overall supply chain and uses commercial shipping providers for transporting parts.

So far, neither Australia nor the US have been able to explain why and how the equipment was rerouted despite four months having passed.

1 MILLION F-35 SPARE PARTS MISSING

The Pentagon has said in a statement it was aware of a "shipment issue" of unserviceable F-35 Lightning II components. It said efforts were on to retrieve the components, and "place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence".

While Australian defence minister Richard Marles admitted that the parts were in Hong Kong, he underlined that they were not sensitive.

"This is ultimately a matter for the US and Lockheed, as its prime contractor and the contractor that is responsible for managing the global supply chain," Marles told the media.

Lockheed Martin stated that it followed US regulations for shipping the aircraft components.

One thing to note here is that while the US Defence Department oversees the F-35 supply chain, the spare parts are accounted for by Lockheed Martin.

In fact, as per a 2023 accountability report, more than 1 million F-35 spare parts have gone missing in the past five years, Politico reported. The spare part losses extend to tens of millions of dollars.

However, the latest incident marks possibly the first time that such sensitive US technology has fallen in China's hands.