Australian Politics

Revelations of secret F-35 fighter jet parts shipments to Israel have exposed a yawning hole in Australia’s sovereign national defence.

Exclusive reports by Declassified Australia of at least 71 packages of F-35 fighter jet weapons parts being exported from Sydney to Israel have revealed that Australia has forfeited control over the plane’s spare parts stored here for Australia’s fleet of F-35s.

Australia has signed up to a system where, at a moment’s notice, those ‘parts and components’ may be whisked off the shelves at the RAAF Williamtown Air Base in New South Wales on the whim of a foreign state to be exported to a foreign country in a distant war zone.

While it may be known to defence experts and insiders, this was the surprise public admission by a senior Defence official, Deputy Secretary Hugh Jeffrey. He was responding to questions about the F-35 parts exports, that had been earlier revealed by reports in Declassified Australia, during a Senate interrogation ... “These are US owned goods. They’re managed by Lockheed Martin. Australia does not direct the export of those goods. It does not control the export of those goods..."