Lockheed Martin has halted F-35 deliveries for several weeks to replace a newly identified Chinese supplier of permanent magnets embedded in a Honeywell subsystem.
The Sept. 7 announcement adds pressure on Lockheed’s goal to deliver 147-153 F-35s this year and highlights growing concerns about Chinese suppliers in critical U.S. defense supply chains, especially with the rare-earth elements often used in permanent magnets. Lockheed has delivered 88 F-35s to the U.S. and foreign buyers this year and has not changed its delivery guidance because of the stoppage.
The Honeywell Integrated Power Package (IPP), a 200-hp turbine that combines the functions of an auxiliary power unit and air cycle machine, includes strong permanent magnets made of an alloy of cobalt and samarium. Although the alloy is magnetized in the U.S., the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) recently determined it is produced in China, a Lockheed spokeswoman says.
A Chinese-supplied magnet does not constitute a safety-of-flight issue or compromise sensitive program information, the spokeswoman says, but it violates laws and defense-acquisition regulations, including a legal requirement to buy only U.S.-made specialty metals.
Honeywell has placed an order for the cobalt-samarium alloy with a U.S. supplier, a Lockheed spokeswoman says. The first delivery is expected to Honeywell in October, with compliant IPPs arriving at Lockheed’s assembly lines “shortly after.”
“Honeywell remains committed to supplying high-quality products that meet or exceed all customer contract requirements,” a Honeywell spokesman says, adding: “We are working closely with DOD [the Defense Department] and Lockheed Martin to ensure we continue to achieve those commitments on products Honeywell supplies for use on the F-35.”
In the meantime, Lockheed is seeking a way around the JPO order to halt aircraft deliveries, including requesting a national security waiver from Bill LaPlante, who is undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment. Such a waiver will be required if the DOD rules Chinese-sourced magnets represent a statutory-compliance issue, a Lockheed spokeswoman says.
“Our team is doing everything possible to gather the facts and work through potential courses of action,” she says. “We are working with the DOD to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to resume deliveries.”
Honeywell notified Lockheed of the Chinese supplier in late August, the Lockheed spokeswoman says. Honeywell was, in turn, informed by its IPP lube-pump supplier that their magnets contain an alloy sourced in China.
The discovery comes more than two decades after the F-35 entered development, but shows the vulnerability for the defense sector of global supply chains for specialized materials, especially rare-earth elements such as samarium. The magnets are a few of 300,000 parts in the F-35 that are sourced from more than 1,700 suppliers.
“Through this investigation, we are doing a thorough analysis to review places in the supply chain that could also be impacted,” the Lockheed spokeswoman says.
The problem echoes previous statements of concerns by senior U.S. defense officials, who have acknowledged a lack of awareness about the presence of Chinese suppliers even by the U.S. manufacturers. Ellen Lord, a former undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, noted concerns during a May 2019 press conference at the Pentagon.
“Talking with primes and even the subcontractors, there seems to be very little insight into who is down a couple ranks,” said Lord, who was previously an executive at Textron. “Like third-tier suppliers, they don’t know where there might be a Chinese supplier.”
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