Lawmakers are pressing the Trump administration for answers after F-35 components were diverted to Hong Kong, raising questions on Capitol Hill about how parts from the military’s most advanced fighter jet ended up in territory controlled by China.
The Pentagon and the F-35 Joint Program Office have said they are investigating the incident and working with U.S. authorities and industry partners. The parts — a cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door — were being shipped via UPS from Australia to the United States for repair or disposal when they were unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg.
The episode drew concern from senators in both parties Thursday, with several saying they want more information from the Pentagon about the circumstances of the shipment and whether China could gain anything of military value from the components.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the administration needs to explain and he expected to be briefed on the matter within several days.
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“How did it happen? How did this take place?” Warner said. “It begs a lot of questions. Again, this administration’s whole approach to national security in China is so episodic.”
Republicans, similarly, focused on how the components could have been diverted in the first place.
“I want to get briefed on it, but if that’s true, somebody really screwed up,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a Senate Intelligence Committee member. “What a boneheaded thing to do.”
“But that certainly needs to be investigated. That’s not the way things are supposed to work,” he added.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) said the incident could force Congress and the Pentagon to examine the logistics used to transport military equipment, including the government’s reliance on private shippers.
Cramer, who chairs the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Airland, said he was focused for now on what China might learn from the particular components rather than how they came to be in China’s possession.
“We don’t know whether it was an aggressive move by the Chinese, whether it was a preplanned thing, whether it was simply an accident,” he said. “
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles has said the components were not sensitive, while acknowledging they ended up in Hong Kong. The Lockheed Martin-made F-35 incorporates classified technologies that include stealth coatings and advanced radar and sensors.
“Ultimately, though, this is an issue which is going to be managed by the United States and by Lockheed in terms of what has occurred,” Marles said this week.
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee said they wanted the Pentagon to determine what went wrong. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) said she expects the Pentagon to investigate the issue and brief Congress when “they have something.”
“I’m sure it’s being investigated by the department right now, and yeah, we’ll ask for updates during that,” Fischer said.
The questions over the F-35 shipment arose as Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Washington for a state visit with President Donald Trump, putting the incident alongside a broader debate about how the U.S. should manage its relationship with Beijing.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) — who this week criticized the lavish reception the president offered Xi and urged Trump to press the “brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator” on security and human rights — offered a terse assessment of the F-35 situation: “It’s troubling.”
Several senators argued that diplomatic engagement remained necessary even as they described Beijing as a military and economic rival. Cramer said maintaining a relationship was better than having none at all, despite calling China America’s “No. 1 adversary.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) took a harder line and suggested that while Trump is rolling out the red carpet in public, he has to press Xi in private, particularly on imprisoned Hong Kong dissident Jimmy Lai. Still, Scott conceded Trump must be diplomatic given China’s chokehold on critical minerals — which the U.S. relies on for weapons, electric vehicles and more.
“China is not going to be our friend,” Scott said.
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