Months ago, en route from Australia to the United States, F-35 parts were mysteriously “diverted to Hong Kong,” a satrapy of mainland China. Some of the F-35 parts went missing. We’re just hearing about this lapse in security now. We should assume that engineers of the People’s Republic of China have been hard at work learning whatever they did not already know about these components (Politico, September 18, 2026).
Sensitive F-35 fighter jet technology was unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong this summer, sparking an inquiry on Capitol Hill and raising the possibility that China could have access to key components of the highly classified weapon system.
A shipment of F-35 parts bound for the United States for repairs was rerouted as it transited the Pacific Ocean from Australia, according to three people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. The Pentagon confirmed the disappearance of some components.
The parts, which an intermediary was transporting on behalf of F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin, instead wound up in Hong Kong. It’s not clear why the equipment was rerouted or who has possession of it now.
The incident, which has not been previously reported, triggered an ongoing series of briefings for congressional staff on key national security committees. State Department and Pentagon officials first briefed staff in June, according to the people, and multiple additional briefings are expected in the coming weeks….
China has already engaged in widespread espionage on secret Pentagon programs, including the F-35.
“It’s no secret that China has been aggressively trying to get F-35 data through electronic espionage, among other means,” said J.J. Gertler, a former House Armed Services Committee staff member and Congressional Research Service military aviation analyst. “But even if they already had specifications or other data about the part, possessing a real one can give them even more to go on and can verify or refine whatever they already had learned.”
It seems that if investigators know what happened here, they’re not telling Politico. Have Chinese Communist Party spies infiltrated U.S. military supply chains? Or was it all entirely inadvertent, some really dumb pilot saying “Hey, let’s take a break in Hong Kong before we complete our leg of the trip, always wanted to see Hong Kong, it’s only umpteen miles out of our way” and obtaining the equally dumb acquiescence of the copilot, after which they dumbly agreed to a surprise search by CCP officials on the ground? Or what?
Lockheed Martin says that its people “handle every shipment with the utmost diligence and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the F-35 program and the security of our allied partners.”
