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| Pentagon Began to Send Back F-35 Fighter Jets |
Washington - The United States Department of Defense has agreed to resume deliveries of F-35 fighter jets weeks after the discovery of Chinese-made components in the advanced fighter. It was Politico who reported this.
According to the outlet's sources, Congress was notified on Friday that the Pentagon had completed its investigation into the matter, with William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisitions and sustainability, signing a national security waiver. This means that the department will not require replacement of parts containing Chinese alloys in jets that have already been delivered.
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Procurement of the fifth-generation fighter jets was halted in early September after Lockheed Martin, the main contractor for the plane's construction, reported that the fighter had magnets in the engine using an alloy of cobalt and samarium originating from China. At the time, however, the Pentagon insisted the material did not pose a threat.
According to a letter sent by LaPlante to Congress on October 7, as cited by Breaking Defense, the waiver would allow the receipt of 126 F-35 aircraft containing specifically incompatible materials. He also reportedly said that the planes already delivered had more than 500,000 flight hours without failure attributed to high-performance magnets containing special metals.
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The Pentagon's main concern is that Chinese alloys could violate the Defense Federal Acquisition Rules, a broad set of rules for the department's procurement system. However, while the acquisition process was halted, Lockheed Martin continued to produce the fighter.
The company plans to supply the US and its international partners with up to 153 fighter jets by 2022, and so far this year it has delivered 88 of them. The F-35 fighter jet program includes eight international partners the US, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Denmark and Canada, with six other countries buying and operating the jets.