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The trouble with trying to keep Chinese parts out of US military hardware
- Recent discovery of Chinese alloy in US fighter jets has raised cost and security concerns for Washington
- US has few options but to allow the deliveries to continue, Chinese analyst says
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The discovery of a made-in-China alloy in America’s most advanced warplane, the F-35, is raising cost and supply chain concerns for Washington as it moves to reduce reliance on foreign producers for its weapons, according to military affairs analysts.
On September 7, the Pentagon announced it had temporarily halted F-35 deliveries after it was discovered that a magnet – one part of a key Honeywell-made component in the aircraft’s engine – was made with a rare cobalt and samarium alloy that came from China. Under both US law and Pentagon regulations, that is prohibited.
In an interview with Defense News on Tuesday, Greg Ulmer, executive vice-president for aeronautics at Lockheed Martin, the warplane’s manufacturer, said the company continued to build F-35s while it waited for a waiver from the US Department of Defence, allowing deliveries to resume.
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William LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top acquisition official, said earlier that “a waiver was likely if there were no security or safety issues”.
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It is not the first time a banned Chinese part has been discovered in the F-35. The Pentagon had to repeatedly waive rules to keep the fighter programme on track in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, Chinese materials were also discovered in other major US weaponry, including Boeing’s B-1B bomber and some Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters.
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