Missing F-35 Fighter Parts Sent to Hong Kong Under Investigation

Some spare parts for a U.S. military fighter jet were shipped from Australia but ended up in Hong Kong instead of the United States. Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed the incident on September 22. He said Australia is working with the U.S. and the jet's maker, Lockheed Martin, to find out what happened. The missing parts came from a warehouse in Australia that stores spare pieces for F-35 fighter jets used across the Asia-Pacific region.

The F-35 is the most expensive weapons system the United States has ever built. More than 800 of these jets are used by the U.S. military, and many of its allies also fly them. Australia owns 72 F-35s and is one of seven countries outside the U.S. that shares a large pool of spare parts. The other countries in the group include Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Britain.

A news outlet called Politico first reported the story on September 19. It said the shipment included a canopy — the clear cover over the cockpit — that has special technology to avoid radar detection. The parts were supposed to go to the United States, but they were rerouted to Hong Kong instead. This raised concerns that China might have gotten access to the jet's technology, though it is not clear who currently has the parts or why they were redirected.

Lockheed Martin did not ship the parts directly. Instead, the company hired a third-party shipping firm to handle them. The parts were placed on commercial airplanes that made stops in Asia on the way to their destination. Defence officials in Australia said their country does not control or direct how those parts are shipped once they leave the warehouse. Two sources told the news agency AFP that the whole program is controlled by the U.S. military, not Australia.

The warehouse where the parts came from is located in Williamtown, near the city of Newcastle, north of Sydney. It serves as a regional hub for F-35 spare parts across the Asia-Pacific. It supports jets used in Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, as well as U.S. and British aircraft carriers in the region. Australia's parliament learned in 2025 that Lockheed Martin moves parts in and out of this warehouse and sends them around the world.

Minister Marles tried to calm concerns about the incident. He said the parts that went missing are not 'sensitive,' meaning they are not the most secret or dangerous pieces of the jet. He added that Australia is confident about how it has been involved in the F-35 program. He made clear that the United States and Lockheed Martin are the ones responsible for managing what happened.

Lockheed Martin Australia said it could not talk about its shipping methods for security reasons. But the company said every shipment is handled with great care and follows all rules set by the U.S. Department of Defense. The investigation is still ongoing, and it remains unclear exactly how the parts ended up in Hong Kong. Officials from both Australia and the United States are working together to get answers.