The Pentagon halted deliveries of F-35 fighter jets made by Lockheed Martin Corp. in Fort Worth after a Chinese-made component was discovered in the manufacturing of the aircraft. The defense contractor said the issue is not affecting operations at the assembly plant.
The Department of Defense ordered a temporary stop on the aircraft due to compliance concerns. A Chinese-made alloy was used by a third-tier supplier as a magnet in the F-35 turbomachine, which violates federal defense acquisition laws.
Despite the fighter jets being held at selling and delivery points outside of the country, employees and scheduling at the Fort Worth plant have not been affected.
“A new source of compliant material has been identified and is being procured to replace the non-compliant material,” said Jacqueline Lorenzetti, an F-35 media relations lead. “Lockheed Martin is working closely with the Joint Program Office to lift the delivery pause and allow aircraft deliveries to resume concurrent with the National Security Waiver approval process.”
The Department of Defense confirmed the magnet sourced from China does not provide any visibility to sensitive information or pose flight safety issues.
“We have confirmed that the magnet does not transmit information or harm the integrity of the aircraft and there are no performance, quality, safety or security risks associated with this issue and flight operations for the F-35 in-service fleet will continue as normal,” said Russell Goemaere, an F-35 Joint Program Office spokesperson.
The leading defense contractor with a major Fort Worth presence also affirmed the setback will not pause assembly within the country.
“We are working with our partners and DoD to ensure contractual compliance within the supply chain,” Lockheed Martin said in a statement. “The F-35 remains safe for flight, and we are working with the DoD to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to resume deliveries.”
Lockheed Martin learned of the manufacturing issue from Honeywell, a supplier, in late August and informed the F-35 Joint Program Office. Honeywell had discovered the problem from a lube pump supplier, which had learned that its supplier was using alloy sourced in China.
The JPO then asked the Defense Department to pause deliveries. Lockheed said it is developing mitigation plans that may allow aircraft deliveries to resume in the interim.
Eighty-eight F-35 aircraft have been delivered to date in 2022. The defense contractor remains on schedule for the delivery of 148 to 153 F-35s by the end of the year.
F-35 production and acceptance testing continues at all of Lockheed Martin’s assembly facilities, including smaller final assemblies in Nagoya, Japan, and Cameri, Italy. The fighter jet is made up of 300,000 parts from more than 1,700 suppliers, according to the company.
The length of the delivery pause remains unclear. An investigation has opened to understand other places in the supply chain that may have been affected.
“Further investigation is underway to understand the causal factors for the non-compliance and to establish corrective action,” JPO’s Goemaere said.
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