U.S. F-35 parts not only flow into Hong Kong, more than a million parts are missing in the black hole management

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a latest report on the 9th stating that the Pentagon is unable to fully grasp approximately 26 million F-35 spare parts around the world with a total value of US$31 billion (approximately NT$1.01 trillion). More than 1 million parts worth US$85 million (approximately NT$2.79 billion) have been missing for many years and have not yet been found, highlighting the logistical management problems of the world's largest fighter program.

The military news website "Air & Space Forces Magazine" reported that GAO pointed out that the existing parts records of the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) not only often contain errors and incomplete data, but also cannot track the movement and use of parts in real time. The lack of an effective loss notification monitoring system and the inadequate training of property management officials make it difficult for the U.S. military to grasp the actual scale of losses and even affect the ability to detect fraud, waste, or theft.

In fact, this problem has been exposed as early as 2023. GAO pointed out in May of that year that more than 1 million F-35 spare parts had gone missing in the past five years, with a total value of US$85 million. The latest investigation showed that as of March 2026, these parts had not been recovered.

The F-35 program adopts a global common parts inventory system, with the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and partners from various countries sharing components such as engines, tires, and support equipment. However, the property management systems of main contractor Lockheed Martin and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney cannot be directly connected to the U.S. government's logistics system, and some data are only updated quarterly, causing parts information to be lagging behind by more than three months.

GAO pointed out that the U.S. military has spent at least US$17 million on physical parts inventory since the 2020 fiscal year. However, due to unreliable records, incomplete listing of parts in transit, and unknown inventory locations of some downstream subcontractors, the inventory results still have gaps. Related issues have also become one of the factors that prevent the U.S. Department of Defense from passing its overall financial audit.

What is even more noteworthy is that in September this year, it was reported that a batch of F-35 sensitive parts originally scheduled to be shipped from Australia to the United States for maintenance were transferred to Hong Kong and then disappeared. The US media "POLITICO" pointed out that the cargo included cockpit covers involving sensitive concealment technology, which raised concerns about the safety of parts transportation and management.

The F-35 Joint Program Office stated that it has agreed to the improvement suggestions put forward by GAO, and will establish a parts loss monitoring program, strengthen the training of property management personnel, and promote a direct connection between the government and contractor systems to achieve real-time tracking.

GAO warned that if the parts management system cannot be improved, it may not only continue to cause property losses, but also weaken the US military's ability to control the F-35 global logistics supply chain.