A single unread email may have set off a national security scare in the United States. It all started when a United Parcel Service (UPS) employee missed a warning to keep the shipment, which contained an F-35 cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door coated in radar-absorbing material, away from Hong Kong.
The rules aim to prevent sensitive US weapons technology from reaching American adversaries. The warning email came from freight forwarder firm DSV A/S, which said the parts of the F-35 jet must not transit through certain countries to comply with the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). DSV, working on behalf of F-35 developer Lockheed Martin Corp, reportedly sent an email to UPS reminding them about the ITAR designation. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II is among the world’s most advanced fighter jets and is part of the most expensive weapons programme in US history, and Beijing has, for years, targeted the aircraft in espionage efforts.
The simple mistake set off a chain of reactions that led to China managing to get hold of some tech of America’s most advanced fifth-generation multirole stealth fighter jets, according to a Bloomberg report. However, it was missed by the shipping services provider, as the DSV email may have been sent through a different IT system than the one used by the UPS agent, a source said. The parts were being sent to the US for possible repair or disposal in late May, according to people familiar with the incident.
Lockheed Martin, which manages much of the global spare parts pool that sustains the aircraft’s use by the US and 19 other nations, said in a statement last month that “our logistics decisions are not made unilaterally.
“It’s not good the Chinese now have” an F-35 canopy, Diana Maurer, who oversees F-35 support reviews at the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, told Bloomberg. She said the mistake was a “big deal. The company said it selects carriers that best align with government regulations.
