New reporting from Bloomberg, summarized by Tom's Hardware, explains how sensitive F-35 parts ended up in Chinese hands. The shipment from Australia to San Francisco included a cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door coated with radar-absorbing material. A UPS agent, unaware of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) restrictions, routed the package through Hong Kong to save time.
The routing warning came from freight forwarder DSV, but the email apparently traveled through a different IT system and was never seen by the UPS agent. Hong Kong is on the ITAR blacklist. The parts were diverted through Hong Kong after a stop in South Korea, and Chinese authorities took possession.
The Pentagon has downplayed the parts as unserviceable, but a Government Accountability Office representative said the loss is a big deal and would likely be celebrated by Chinese reverse-engineering teams. Neither DSV nor UPS commented. The incident raises questions about how sensitive military hardware is handled through commercial logistics.