Military analysts blame US cold war sentiment for halted delivery of F-35 fighters containing Chinese alloy
- A magnet in the F-35’s turbomachine was found to be made from cobalt and samarium alloy from China
- Decision ‘does not bode well’ for China-US relations and Pentagon’s approach suggests US military is pulling China into a new cold war: academic
“The pausing of [Lockheed Martin Corp’s] F-35 is not related to security issues [on the jets], but it is the worst scenario caused by clashes between the two superpowers,” said Macau-based defence observer Antony Wong Tong, who added that the cost of the F-35 could increase because of the new regulations.
“[Aircraft manufacturers] should do rigorous tests before adopting the alloy to make sure of its safety and quality. The problem is, it will take time to find new sources for replacements, which may increase costs and contradict the Pentagon’s request to keep the F-35’s production cost down.”
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Earlier reports from Bloomberg and the American website Defense News reported that the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin had said the decision was aimed at ensuring the F-35 project complied with defence regulations “pertaining to specialty metals”.
Deliveries were suspended after Lockheed Martin on Wednesday confirmed a magnet in the F-35’s turbomachine – an engine component made by Honeywell that provides power to its engine-mounted starter/generator – was recently found to have been made with cobalt and samarium alloy from China, Defence News reported on Thursday.
Lockheed Martin said magnets on F-35s already delivered would not be replaced with non-Chinese materials because the Pentagon had determined that the magnets were safe for flight and did not put sensitive programme information at risk, the report added.
Pentagon spokesman Russell Goemaere said the pause would not interfere with the operations of F-35s already delivered to the US military and partners abroad because “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,” according to Bloomberg.
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Zhu Feng, an international relations specialist from Nanjing University, said the incident indicated that Washington considered Beijing its biggest strategic competitor in the 21st century, and assumed a “worst-case scenario” amid the two countries’ ongoing multifaceted confrontation.
“The US is likely to adopt a vigilant attitude similar to that of the former Soviet Union during the Cold War to prevent any ‘Chinese factor’ from penetrating the Americans’ defence products,” Zhu said.
He said the Pentagon now prohibited the use of Chinese fabrics or any “made in China” components in US military uniforms amid its escalating “hostility”.
“This does not bode well for the future of US-China relations. While the Biden administration has said that the US does not seek a new cold war with China, the practical approach [of Pentagon] suggests that the American military is pulling China into a new cold war.”
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The US Defence Contract Management Agency and the F-35 programme office cited a US law and a separate Pentagon acquisition regulation that prohibit the use of certain specialty metals or alloys produced by “covered countries” – China, Iran, North Korea and Russia – outlined in the Defence Federal Acquisition Regulation series.
The contract agency reported the violation to the F-35 programme office on August 19.
Zhou Bo, a retired senior colonel of the People’s Liberation Army, said it was impossible for China to affect the F-35 aircraft programme merely by exporting alloy materials.
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“Based on common sense, the Americans would not tell the Chinese their reasons and purposes when giving orders, so the Chinese supplier didn’t know anything about the relationship between that alloy and the F-35s,” said Zhou, who is now a senior fellow at the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University.
“Apparently, the news exposure indicates the quality of Chinese alloy materials is good enough to be installed in the advanced F-35s … it’s the American’s defence restrictions leading to the silly problem.”
Defense News reported that a spokesman for the F-25 programme said an investigation was under way to understand how the Chinese materials slipped through the process and how to fix the problem, while the contractors involved have found a new source of the alloy.
