Australia says diverted F-35 parts not believed sensitive

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said F-35 components sent to Hong Kong instead of their intended destination are not thought to include sensitive equipment. Speaking to reporters in Adelaide on September 22, 2026, Marles said Australia is helping the United States and Lockheed Martin look into how the shipment was diverted. Australian authorities were reviewing everything that happened on their side of the transfer, he said, and he took comfort from the early understanding that the parts were not sensitive.

The matter would ultimately be handled by the US and by Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor on the F-35 programme, he said.

His comments followed a September 18, 2026 report that a consignment of F-35 parts headed to the United States for repair had been sent instead to Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. Citing three people familiar with the matter, the report said the shipment included a cockpit canopy with a transparent radar-absorbent coating, and that an intermediary was handling the parts on behalf of Lockheed Martin.

The Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office said it was aware of a shipping problem involving unserviceable components and was working with US authorities and industry partners to recover them and investigate what happened.