F-35 parts sent from Australia to US diverted to Hong Kong, reportedly taken into Chinese custody
A shipment carrying components of the US-made F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, sent from Australia to the United States for inspection, was unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong and has reportedly ended up in Chinese custody.
The incident, which took place in late May, has prompted an internal investigation by the US Department of War and F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin as Washington reviews how sensitive aircraft components are tracked and transported around the world.
The shipment was being carried by UPS and reportedly contained a cockpit canopy and a weapons-bay door from an Australian F-35. Both components were coated with the aircraft’s specialised radar-evading stealth material and were being sent to the US for inspection, possible repair or disposal.
The package travelled from Australia to a UPS transit hub in South Korea. Instead of continuing towards the United States, however, the shipment was diverted to Hong Kong. Bloomberg has reported that Chinese authorities subsequently took possession of the components and have yet to return them.
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed that the parts had taken an unexpected route and ended up in Hong Kong. Speaking outside the Royal Australian Air Force base at Edinburgh near Adelaide, Marles said Australia was working with US authorities and Lockheed Martin to establish what happened.
He also played down concerns over the nature of the shipment, saying the missing components were not “sensitive equipment”. Australian authorities, he said, were examining the circumstances surrounding the shipment on their side.
US officials had reportedly informed congressional staff about the incident in June, but the matter remained largely undisclosed until it was reported by Politico on September 18, citing two people familiar with the case.
The episode has drawn additional attention because of China’s longstanding interest in US military technology, particularly the F-35 programme. Chinese hackers have previously been accused of targeting information connected to the Joint Strike Fighter programme. A 2007 cyberattack reportedly compromised data associated with the project, while a later study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said Chinese cyber espionage in 2012 also obtained information relating to F-35 technologies.
The incident has also exposed wider concerns about the Pentagon’s ability to track F-35 components. A 2023 US Government Accountability Office report found that contractors had lost track of more than one million F-35 spare parts valued at about $85 million. The report also noted that the Department of Defense had reviewed fewer than two per cent of the identified losses.
The latest case is therefore being viewed not only as a potential security concern but also as a test of the F-35 programme’s global logistics and inventory systems. The ongoing investigation is expected to determine how the shipment was diverted, who authorised the change in route and what happened to the components after they reached Hong Kong.
