A shipment of F-35 parts bound for repair in the US was rerouted to Hong Kong and vanished, a bad break for Washington, Lockheed Martin, and Australia.

• The parts left Australia with a third-party shipping company, ended up in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong, and have not been recovered.
• At least one radar-absorbing canopy was reportedly in the load — one of the most sensitive pieces of stealth technology on the jet.
• China already builds its own stealth fighters, so the real prize is studying how America does stealth and hunting for weak spots in the design.
• Australia's acting leader says nothing sensitive was lost; US officials have been briefing Congress on the incident since June.
• A 2023 US audit found over a million F-35 parts unaccounted for in five years, showing how leaky the supply chain already is.

Outlook: The parts are almost certainly gone for good, and the episode strengthens the case against selling the F-35 to Saudi Arabia.