Washington, Sep 30
Indian-origin Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has demanded an investigation after parts of America's advanced F-35 fighter aircraft being shipped from Australia to the United States were reportedly diverted to Hong Kong and taken into the possession of the Chinese government.
Krishnamoorthi has asked Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth for a detailed account of how the components, which reportedly included a weapons-bay door and a jet canopy, ended up in Hong Kong.
The shipment stopped in South Korea before being diverted to Hong Kong, according to material cited by the Illinois Democrat.
Krishnamoorthi, a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, warned that China could potentially learn about sensitive US technology from the components.
“According to Bloomberg, the Chinese government took possession of the parts and has not returned them. Possession of F-35 parts could allow the CCP to reverse engineer U.S. stealth technology, threatening our service members and national security,” Krishnamoorthi wrote to Hegseth.
“Incidents like this simply should not happen, and they raise serious questions over Department of Defense (DOD) and commercial shipping companies’ policies for tracking sensitive U.S. military hardware,” he said.
Krishnamoorthi has asked the Pentagon to explain the shipment's entire chain of custody, beginning with its departure from Australia and ending with its reported diversion to Hong Kong.
He also wants to know why it stopped in South Korea, who authorised the stop and which entity was responsible for maintaining custody of the components.
The congressman asked whether the Pentagon believes the diversion resulted from an intentional act, negligence, inadequate safeguards or subversion.
He also sought details of any efforts by the Pentagon to recover the components.
A central question raised by Krishnamoorthi is why F-35 components were moved through a commercial shipping network rather than military transportation.
He asked what criteria the Pentagon uses to decide when sensitive F-35 components can be transported commercially and whether those rules will now be reconsidered.
Krishnamoorthi also sought an assessment of the national security consequences if China has obtained the components.
He asked the Pentagon to determine whether examining or reverse engineering them could give China information about F-35 capabilities, materials or other sensitive technologies.
The lawmaker has also asked whether the Pentagon knows of other cases in which F-35 parts or sensitive military components were lost, diverted or routed through China, Hong Kong or territories controlled by US adversaries.
The incident has revived concerns about accountability across the sprawling international supply chain supporting the F-35 programme.
“The F-35 Program supply chain clearly needs more oversight. According to a 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, more than a million F-35 spare parts that were collectively worth $85 million went missing over a five-year period. DOD only investigated 2% of those lost parts,” Krishnamoorthi wrote.
He asked Hegseth why the Pentagon has not fully implemented four recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office in 2023 on accountability for the F-35 global spare-parts pool.
Krishnamoorthi has given Hegseth until October 12 to respond to his questions.
The F-35 is a fifth-generation combat aircraft developed by Lockheed Martin and operated by the United States and a number of allied countries. Its technology, including features designed to reduce its detectability by radar, is closely protected by Washington.
