F-35 Deliveries to Resume After Chinese Alloy Prompted Halt
- Defense Department grants a ‘national security’ waiver
- Lockheed says supplier has identified alternative US source
A Lockheed Martin F-35A jet flies during a training mission in Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
Photographer: George Frey/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Deliveries of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 will resume after the Pentagon’s acquisitions chief issued a “national security” waiver from a ban on a Chinese alloy used in a component on the fighter jet.
The component -- a magnet in a device supplied by Honeywell International Inc. -- has been used in the plane since 2003. After the Chinese alloy was discovered, the Pentagon suspended deliveries of new F-35s last month, citing regulations on “specialty metals.”