China Now Physically Holds F-35 Stealth Parts After Shipment Was Diverted to Hong Kong, Pentagon Confirms

Since Politico first reported on September 18 that an F-35 parts shipment vanished en route from Australia to the United States, the story has moved from a supply-chain mystery to a confirmed fact: China has the components. Bloomberg reported Wednesday, September 23, that Beijing now possesses an F-35 cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door, both coated with radar-absorbent material designed to reduce the jet's radar signature.

Bloomberg's confirmation landed the same week Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington for a state visit with President Trump.

What Actually Happened

The shipment left Australia earlier this year, carried by an intermediary transportation company on behalf of Lockheed Martin, according to Politico. It was headed to the U.S. for repair or disposal when it was, in the Pentagon's words, diverted. Nobody has publicly explained how or why.

The Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office confirmed the incident in a statement provided to multiple outlets, including The Hill, Breitbart, CNN, and the Epoch Times: "We are actively working with U.S. authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components, investigate the incident, and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence."

Lockheed Martin told the Daily Wire it follows all federal regulations governing military transport and handles "every shipment with the utmost diligence and safeguards." State Department and Pentagon officials began briefing congressional staff on the matter back in June, according to Politico's reporting cited by CNN, with more briefings expected.

Capitol Hill Reacts, Across Party Lines

Lawmakers from both parties are demanding answers, and the frustration is bipartisan. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters she is "very concerned" and wants a Pentagon briefing once investigators have something to share. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) put it plainly: "China is not going to be our friend."

Rep. Patt Harrigan (R-N.C.), on the House Armed Services Committee, warned on X that if the reporting holds up, the U.S. has a "MASSIVE problem," adding that China "spends enormous resources trying to penetrate our most advanced military technology."

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called it "extraordinarily concerning" and said the administration owes Congress a full explanation, according to the Washington Sun. Warner also took a shot at the administration's broader China posture, saying its approach to national security "is so episodic."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), also on Senate Intelligence, didn't mince words either: "If that's true, somebody really screwed up. What a boneheaded thing to do." Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who chairs the Armed Services subcommittee on Airland, said the incident may force Congress to reexamine the Pentagon's reliance on private shippers for military hardware, though he said he's more focused right now on what China could learn from the parts than on how they got diverted.

The Case That This Is Overblown

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles has repeatedly said the missing components were not sensitive equipment, telling reporters in Adelaide, "My understanding is that there is a sense of comfort, and we're not talking about sensitive equipment here or sensitive parts." He called it ultimately a matter for the U.S. and Lockheed Martin to manage, since Lockheed runs the F-35's global supply chain.

John Conway, a defense analyst at Felix Defence quoted by the International Business Times UK, made a similar point: the F-35 has thousands of components, some routine and some sensitive, and even canopy hardware reaching Hong Kong wouldn't automatically mean China gained access to exploitable secret technology. IBT UK also noted there is currently no public evidence Chinese authorities have actually examined the parts, only that they are in Hong Kong.

A canopy's radar-absorbent coating is a real signature-reduction technology, but it is not the same as software, avionics, or sensor fusion code that defines the F-35's actual combat edge. Officials across every source insist the missing parts are "unserviceable," meaning damaged goods headed for disposal or repair, not cutting-edge hardware pulled from an active jet.

The Part Nobody Disputes

Both sides agree this should never have happened. A 2023 Government Accountability Office report, cited by Breitbart, the Daily Wire, and the Epoch Times, found more than 1 million F-35 spare parts worth over $85 million went missing from the program's global inventory between May 2018 and October 2022, largely because Lockheed and other contractors, not the Pentagon, keep the tracking records. This diversion fits a pattern the GAO already flagged three years ago.

China has gone after F-35 data before. Chinese national Su Bin pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiring with Chinese military officers to steal F-35 design information, according to the Epoch Times. The Pentagon has not said when its investigation will conclude, and Warner says he expects a briefing within days. Until that briefing happens, how UPS and a Lockheed intermediary managed to reroute classified military cargo into Chinese-controlled territory remains unclear.