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The Pentagon waived bans on the use of Chinese-built components on US weapons systems in an effort
to keep the colossal F-35 joint strike fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013.
Pentagon documents show its top arms buyer, Frank Kendall, granted waivers to two main
F-35 suppliers, Northrop Grumman and Honeywell International, for the use of Chinese magnets
in the fighter plane's radar system, landing gear and other hardware.
Both companies - top military contracting powers working for its peer Lockheed Martin
to complete the US$392 billion (and counting) F-35 fighter jet system - would have faced
sanctions for breaking US law, thus subjecting the program to further delays. The program
is years behind schedule as it is. It is estimated to now stand at 70 percent over initial cost
projections.
"It was a pretty big deal and an unusual situation because there's a prohibition on doing defense
work in China, even if it's inadvertent," Frank Kenlon, a former top Pentagon procurement
official, told Reuters. "I'd never seen this happen before."
Documents show the Government Accountability Office is investigating three such cases where
the F-35 was made using illegal foreign parts, Reuters reported. Congress ordered the GAO
to report by March 1 whether American companies are being shut out of the specialty metals
market and, if so, what the ramifications would be for American weapons systems.
The waivers granted by the Pentagon concern inexpensive parts, including $2 magnets, used
to make 115 F-35 test, training and production aircraft. The last of these aircraft will
be delivered in May.
Though lawmakers have said the magnets are also made by US companies, Kendall said the
waivers were issued to keep production schedules on track, to avoid millions of dollars in
retrofit costs and to prevent delays to the jet's first use in combat by the Marines in
2015, the documents show.
Kendall indicated the pace of F-35 production must not slow, for potential threats from
nations - like China and Russia - developing stealth fighters could emerge. In addition,
a delayed F-35 would leave older, less capable fighter jets in use.
To replace the Chinese magnets now, one case showed it would cost $10.8 million and about
25,000 man-hours to fully replace them with American parts, the documents revealed.
The Pentagon's costly F-35 program often called a boondoggle for the soaring costs and increasingly
shifting priorities of air power standards is being developed by Lockheed Martin for
the US and eight other countries: Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands,
Norway and Turkey. In addition, Israel and Japan have placed orders for the fighter jet.