Weeks after a delivery pause was ordered following the discovery that parts of the Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) F-35 Lightning II fighter were made from a Chinese alloy, the U.S. Department of Defense has approved a national security waiver in order to allow aircraft production to resume.
Last month, U.S. defense officials temporarily stopped accepting deliveries of F-35 fighters after discovering parts on jets in production were made from an alloy made in China, potentially violating Pentagon acquisition policy. The alloy in question was used to produce magnets that are integrated into F-35 turbomachine pumps.
The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) first learned of the issue August 19 when it was notified by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) that the aircraft part alloy was potentially not compliant with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (DFARS) policy.
F-35 JPO officials decided to temporarily halt accepting new F-35s in order to ensure all new aircraft coming off the assembly line were in compliance with defense acquisition policies regarding specialty metals.
“The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) will seek a national security waiver from the Defense Acquisition Executive to continue delivery,” JPO spokesperson Russell Goemaere confirmed to FLYING after the delivery pause was ordered. “Further investigation is underway to understand the causal factors for the non-compliance and to establish corrective action. Flight operations for the F-35 in-service fleet are continuing as normal.”
The magnet manufactured by Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) includes cobalt and samarium alloy that was determined to be produced in the People’s Republic of China, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said.
Over the weekend, William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, confirmed that he signed a waiver that allows deliveries of the fighter to resume.
“Today, I signed the National Security Waiver that allows DoD to accept Lot 13 and Lot 14 F-35 aircraft containing non-compliant specialty metals in Honeywell Integrated Power Package Turbomachines,” LaPlante said in an October 8 statement.
“Acceptance of the aircraft is necessary for national security interests,” he added. “This determination applies to a total of 126 F-35 aircraft awaiting delivery or to be delivered under the Lot 12-14 production contract. This determination applies from the date of my approval through the acceptance date of the last aircraft delivered under that contract, which is currently projected for October 31, 2023.”
The magnets are magnetized in the U.S., and do not provide any visibility to sensitive information or create a flight risk, according to Lockheed Martin.
Every one of the more than 840 F-35s delivered to the U.S. and its allies has magnets made from the alloy, according to reports. For future deliveries, an alternative alloy source has been located for future turbomachines, according to the F-35 Joint Program Office.
The F-35 is constructed of 300,000 parts produced by 1,700 suppliers, according to Lockheed. The Chinese alloy provider was a 5th-tier supplier.
