PNN – Bloomberg has reported that a mistake by a postal worker led to sensitive F-35 fighter jet components falling into Chinese hands.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network; an oversight by an employee of the international shipping company UPS—specifically, ignoring a warning email—resulted in one of the United States’ most classified and advanced military technologies being inadvertently shipped to Hong Kong and ending up in the possession of the Chinese government.
Bloomberg reported that this incident—details of which were revealed during a classified meeting between Pentagon officials and members of the U.S. Congress—has caused a massive and unprecedented embarrassment for the U.S. military and the defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
The story began last May, when two highly sensitive components of an F-35 stealth fighter—specifically the cockpit and the weapons bay door—were shipped from Australia to San Francisco for repair or disposal.
The extraordinary importance and sensitivity of these components lay in the fact that their surfaces were coated with a special radar-absorbent material—a classified technology that enables these fighter jets to evade enemy radar and has made the F-35 the most expensive and advanced military program in history.
Under strict U.S. arms export regulations; this military shipment was required to transit only through countries considered U.S. defense allies, such as South Korea and Taiwan. However, following a delay in Australia, logistics officials altered the flight path to expedite delivery; in a surprising move, they selected a route that passed through Hong Kong, a territory under Chinese sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the transport company DSV, acting on behalf of Lockheed Martin, sent an email to UPS explicitly warning that, under arms control regulations, these components were prohibited from transiting the airspace or territory of certain countries. However, due to incompatible software systems between the two companies, the UPS employee failed to notice the warning, and the sensitive military shipment was routed directly to Hong Kong.
The revelation of this incident has sparked a wave of outrage and concern among U.S. senators and lawmakers, particularly given that Beijing has for years sought to obtain secrets regarding the F-35 fighter jet through industrial and military espionage.
Diana Maurer, an official at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, described China’s acquisition of these components as a major blow, emphasizing that the Chinese undoubtedly celebrated upon securing the shipment and immediately began efforts to reverse-engineer the parts and devise ways to counter the fighter jet’s stealth capabilities. Some U.S. senators have even raised the possibility that Beijing may have had a pre-existing plan to intercept the shipment and divert it to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is attempting to downplay the issue by stating that the parts in question were scrap and unusable; however, it has also announced the formation of a special team to review the arms supply chain and consult on the return of the components.