China Reportedly Holds Stealth-Coated F-35 Parts After a UPS Shipment Was Diverted to Hong Kong
A cockpit canopy and weapons bay door bound from Australia to the U.S. ended up in Hong Kong in late May, Bloomberg reports. The Pentagon is trying to get them back, and nobody has explained how they got there.
Chinese authorities are reportedly holding sensitive parts from the F-35 stealth fighter after a shipment of components meant for the United States was diverted to Hong Kong. The Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office says it is trying to recover the parts and find out how it happened.
The shipment, carried by UPS on behalf of manufacturer Lockheed Martin, included an F-35 cockpit canopy and a weapons bay door, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. It was traveling from Australia to the U.S., reportedly for repair, when it was rerouted to Hong Kong in late May. Both parts are coated with radar-absorbing material that helps hide the jet from enemy radar. The canopy is an acrylic bubble topped with a transparent stealth coating, one of the most sensitive parts of the aircraft. It remains unclear why the shipment went to Hong Kong or exactly who has it now.
"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," the F-35 Joint Program Office said. Lockheed Martin said its teams "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." UPS and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told reporters on Tuesday that Canberra knew about the shipment and was working with Washington and Lockheed Martin on the investigation. He said his understanding was that no sensitive parts were in it. That assessment is hard to square with the report that stealth-coated panels were aboard. State Department and Pentagon officials first briefed congressional staff on the incident in June, and more briefings are expected in the coming weeks. Lawmakers have opened inquiries over fears that China could study or reverse-engineer the coatings.
The episode feeds long-running worries about the F-35's global supply chain. Lockheed builds the jet with parts from suppliers in several countries, and spare components move constantly between partner nations for repair. A 2023 Government Accountability Office report found that the program could not account for more than 1 million spare parts over five years. U.S. prosecutors said in 2024 that China had targeted F-35-related military data in past espionage cases.
Washington sells the jet only to its closest allies and has cut off partners over security risks before. Turkey was expelled from the program in 2019 after buying Russia's S-400 air defense system, which officials feared could be used to collect intelligence on the fighter. Users of the F-35 include Australia and Belgium, and Japan, Canada and Singapore have ordered it.
The report comes a week after the State Department approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35s to Saudi Arabia, the first Arab country cleared to buy the jet. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., has said the intelligence community warned that the sale "could put the crown jewels of American military technology within reach of the Chinese Communist Party." It also comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Washington this week for talks with President Donald Trump.
