Military subcontractor subcontracts manufacturing, then subcontracts a subcontracing shpping company, that subcontracts a ship, possibly hiring a personel subcontractor to hire a subcontracted crew. MODERN CAPITALISM everybody! Where the Communists are better capitalists than the capitalists.
Presumably the people on the ship knew exactly where they were (barring a massive accident). Lockheed Martin is a corporation and thus wants to cut costs whenever possible. The Trump Admin is the most corrupt in history, so they probably didn't even need to do much to get an exemption to all of the security rules. There are a lot of shipping companies with cheap prices and questionable loyalty.
With very few exceptions, the F-35 hardware isn’t even classified. It’s sensitive and under export restrictions, but not actually “secret”.
That was an intentional design decision several decades ago, mainly to mitigate the expected risk that an F-35 would end up in enemy hands, but also to reduce logistics costs by allowing parts to be shipped with commercial carriers, rather than needing secure transport.
You don’t lose a ship when it was purposely diverted. And then you go on a witch hunt at Lockheed, the third party, and the Pentagon to figure out the ring.
This is my take, if secret stealth fighter technology falls into the hands of competing governments / nations; this is actually good for the Military Industrial Complex.
Why you may ask, well if your enemy states have the same level of technology you currently have then you obviously no longer have a tactical edge on the battlefield.
Now you have to buy their 6th generation of stealth drone fighters at the absorbent prices they ask for in order to maintain that tactical edge.
I disagree. The F-35 losing its advantage means countries with a choice of which plane to buy will look elsewhere, like SAAB, and Lockheed will lose out on a ton of sales they were expecting and will require a bailout from the feds.
How: Lockheed Martin used an intermediary to ship the parts.
I wouldn't blame the Pentagon for this fuck up, but I do blame them for not noticing until it was too late.
How in the royal fuck do you allow third parties to ship critical military components? Now that is something both the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin should be grilled about by Congress.
Not this one, though, this one would rather sweep all of this under the rug and pretend nothing happened. Maybe the next Congress will care.
How? Well, you go get a label, slap it on a box, and ship the parts.
Even classified, such things ship through civilian channels routinely. They’re unlabeled and sent to short-lived front companies, so they’re indistinguishable from any of the billions of other packages shipped daily… unless someone on the inside leaks.
One of the key features of the F-35 is that the secrets are software, though, so very little of the hardware is classified. It’s more an embarrassment than an actual threat.
They are a corporation, so they want to cut costs, so Lockheed Martin petitioned Trump for the right to outsource to cheaper third parties, and Trump being Trump said okay once they greased his palms.
The fact that they went to an outside party makes this the penatagon’s fuck-up, and that’s a best case scenario where China doesn’t outright own a cabinet member
What the fuck? We had to sleep on airfields with equipment because components were classified and they just ship parts via third party because it's cheaper? WTF?
The bulk sure, but the canopy I'm pretty sure is one of the big classified ones (there's a few obvious ones like the fire control and command and control systems)- as the guy in this video says it's a huge problem in stealth designs, having radar hit the back wall of the cockpit/seat/pilot is a great way to get a more solid return with high frequency radar.
Normally they would just put a misleading innocous label on the crates, such as "Titanium Rabbit Cages" or "Christmas Ornament Shrapnel" or "Tritium Yield Enhancers" or "Childrens School Annihilators"
chuckaholic
About as bad as when one of our spy planes went down in China and they got all of our encryption and tech, about 20 years ago.
CyberHexx
Off topic: this dude either needs to dye his beard, or complete his full transformation into a Juggalo...
cuddlydingo
They didn’t “lose” anything. The only part that went wrong is people found out it happened.
BeaverOnFire
"Lost"
Ritawho
lildude52ca
yeeeeeep and ya'll are standing by watching it happen doing nothing about your shit hole leadership. fucking embarassing man.
MGMZ11
So how much did China pay Hegseth to send them the parts?
rugmibackward
They "lost"...
BeaverOnFire
It's just a unique way of spelling delivered.
NeverTrustThisNew
inpomcetence!
cusbuster
If they haven't got the secrets before, they've got them now anyway. The Chinese R&D (replicate and duplicate) department will make short work of it.
GroovyCrowley
Sounds like someone had a great payday.
NotAllowedToArgueUnlessYouPay
battery1979
This is just like that incident with the restricted missile parts.
jumpbus360
Military subcontractor subcontracts manufacturing, then subcontracts a subcontracing shpping company, that subcontracts a ship, possibly hiring a personel subcontractor to hire a subcontracted crew. MODERN CAPITALISM everybody! Where the Communists are better capitalists than the capitalists.
Roqinn
"Lost" Here ya go China! Just like we promised you!
QuantumInc
Presumably the people on the ship knew exactly where they were (barring a massive accident). Lockheed Martin is a corporation and thus wants to cut costs whenever possible. The Trump Admin is the most corrupt in history, so they probably didn't even need to do much to get an exemption to all of the security rules. There are a lot of shipping companies with cheap prices and questionable loyalty.
ChewyTheWookie
Hegseth got that bread
Eidodk
Believing that China doesn't already know about the compunds and coatings used in the canopy is naive as f....
Tarmaccian
With very few exceptions, the F-35 hardware isn’t even classified. It’s sensitive and under export restrictions, but not actually “secret”.
That was an intentional design decision several decades ago, mainly to mitigate the expected risk that an F-35 would end up in enemy hands, but also to reduce logistics costs by allowing parts to be shipped with commercial carriers, rather than needing secure transport.
McBzz
How do you not account for a billion dollars in spending
Affray
I can't fathom the amount of people who have been taking advantage of a confused shit show to disappear some expensive equipment, info, etc.
legobumb
This dude has those Benedict Cumberbatch eyebrows going on and it intimidates me
AlwaysUpvotesCatgirls
You don’t lose a ship when it was purposely diverted. And then you go on a witch hunt at Lockheed, the third party, and the Pentagon to figure out the ring.
ShowUsTheMemesAndNoOneGetsHurt
National Security: F-35 parts end up in China /gallery/GzLOVTJ
RAJrios
Holy crap, a source! On 2026 Imgur!
Septcanmat
The question to me is, did Hegseth lose the ship, or did he “lose” the ship.
BlastyMcBlastblast
DaveSamsonite
You rang? This is Whoopsie Daisy.
UnaccomplishedWatcherImNotaBot
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1bjA3Y3Y2eXNjYzV0MHhiNDE5bzc4bml2dDhhNHg0MGt4eGFtbG41NCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/14vh2VWCibnsuk/200w.webp
DaveSamsonite
Hoopsie Daisy, sorry
preparanoid
Hoopsie!!
RElGNMAN
This is my take, if secret stealth fighter technology falls into the hands of competing governments / nations; this is actually good for the Military Industrial Complex.
Why you may ask, well if your enemy states have the same level of technology you currently have then you obviously no longer have a tactical edge on the battlefield.
Now you have to buy their 6th generation of stealth drone fighters at the absorbent prices they ask for in order to maintain that tactical edge.
PubMed12927120suckssobad
Huh. Yeah, I guess.
sylkysmooth
Not being an ass here, yet did you mean exorbitant instead of absorbent?
Septcanmat
I disagree. The F-35 losing its advantage means countries with a choice of which plane to buy will look elsewhere, like SAAB, and Lockheed will lose out on a ton of sales they were expecting and will require a bailout from the feds.
thomn8r
And how high are those absorbent prices? Depends...
RElGNMAN
Crap, thanks for pointing that out.
GorillaFLicks
Fuck! I just about choked on my drink!
Underrated comment of the night!
Bravo, dear stranger 👏
DaveSamsonite
I see what you did there.
thomn8r
If you wear them correctly, nobody sees what you did; they might smell it though...
camn333
How: Lockheed Martin used an intermediary to ship the parts.
I wouldn't blame the Pentagon for this fuck up, but I do blame them for not noticing until it was too late.
How in the royal fuck do you allow third parties to ship critical military components? Now that is something both the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin should be grilled about by Congress.
Not this one, though, this one would rather sweep all of this under the rug and pretend nothing happened. Maybe the next Congress will care.
Tarmaccian
How? Well, you go get a label, slap it on a box, and ship the parts.
Even classified, such things ship through civilian channels routinely. They’re unlabeled and sent to short-lived front companies, so they’re indistinguishable from any of the billions of other packages shipped daily… unless someone on the inside leaks.
One of the key features of the F-35 is that the secrets are software, though, so very little of the hardware is classified. It’s more an embarrassment than an actual threat.
battery1979
It's like the time we accidentally sent nuclear missile parts to Taiwan. Well except they are ostensibly an ally.
QuantumInc
They are a corporation, so they want to cut costs, so Lockheed Martin petitioned Trump for the right to outsource to cheaper third parties, and Trump being Trump said okay once they greased his palms.
wadatahmydamie
The fact that they went to an outside party makes this the penatagon’s fuck-up, and that’s a best case scenario where China doesn’t outright own a cabinet member
frontseatdog
The Pentagon is supposed to be accountable for classified equipment and info. Not blaming the Pentagon is a big mistake.
ontarioOT
They've been hollowing out the government through privatization for so long that they've broken through the shell because it's been worn through.
Azazellosarmour
“How dare you speak a word against our Masters”? - MAGA
EstellaOsoka
What the fuck? We had to sleep on airfields with equipment because components were classified and they just ship parts via third party because it's cheaper? WTF?
Tarmaccian
Well… yeah. That’s kinda intentional.
That’s one of the main reasons why the F-22 could never be cleared for foreign sales. Its basic hardware was inextricably classified.
The bulk of the F-35 parts are unclassified on their own. They become classified once they’re put together into a real plane.
agonarch
The bulk sure, but the canopy I'm pretty sure is one of the big classified ones (there's a few obvious ones like the fire control and command and control systems)- as the guy in this video says it's a huge problem in stealth designs, having radar hit the back wall of the cockpit/seat/pilot is a great way to get a more solid return with high frequency radar.
backrideup9
Somebody just wants to be Oliver North 2.0. This was neither accidental or due to incompetence.
yamsonyamsonyams
“I wouldn’t blame the pentagon, I’d blame the 3rd party shipper… which theh never should have used because that’s stupid to do for top secret tech”
Sounds like we came full circle to blaming the pentagon
7yxxxfmcy842
Waiting for Donny to blame Biden.
DaveSamsonite
Normally they would just put a misleading innocous label on the crates, such as "Titanium Rabbit Cages" or "Christmas Ornament Shrapnel" or "Tritium Yield Enhancers" or "Childrens
School Annihilators"