New York : At a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is in the US, Washington is grappling with a mystery involving its most advanced fighter jet. According to a report in Bloomberg, the parts have been seized by China – a major US military rival. Both Australia and the Pentagon have launched an investigation into how the F-35 jet parts wound up in Hong Kong – a special administrative region of China.
China said it was not aware of any such incident. But what the world is aware of is the influence China wields in Hong Kong. In recent years, China has strengthened its grip on Hong Kong through strict national security laws. They allow Beijing to crack down on dissent in the city. The F-35 is the centrepiece of American air power, and its value rests largely on secrecy. Over the years, the US has closely guarded F-35 technologies.
The concern within the US security circle is that China might reverse-engineer the F-35 components to improve its own stealth aircraft, such as the J-20 and J-35. Additionally, China could potentially develop countermeasures, weakening the advantage the F-35 was built to deliver. “It is no secret that China has been aggressively trying to get F-35 data through electronic espionage, among other means,” JJ Gertler, a military aviation analyst, told Politico.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed the disappearance of some components, with a Department of Defense spokesperson telling CNN that Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office was “aware of a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 Lightning II components.” The fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II is largely seen as the world’s most advanced fighter jet, with Lockheed billing it as the “most lethal, survivable and connected fighter aircraft.”
“We are actively working with US authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components, investigate the incident, and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence,” the Defense Department spokesperson told media.
Marles said Tuesday it was his understanding that no sensitive parts were in the missing shipment. “We are examining very much everything that has occurred at the Australian end, but the point I would make here is that we are confident about the way in which we’ve engaged with the program,” Marles said.
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