> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://goodoil.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # But It Said ‘Top Secret’ and Everything! - URL: https://goodoil.news/but-it-said-top-secret-and-everything/ - Published: 2026-09-28T00:00:16.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-28T00:00:15.000Z - Description: Who thought sending stealth fighter parts through the mail was a good idea? - Author: Lushington Brady - Tags: AUS Politics, USA Politics As *Good Oil*’s own Cam is wont to say, between a conspiracy and a stuff-up, choose the stuff-up every time. Never underestimate the ability of governments and bureaucrats to make the most jaw-droppingly stupid decisions. For instance: if you had to send parts of a top-secret fighter jet from one country to another, what would be your method of choice? I’m willing to bet that popping them in a Post-Pak box and dropping them off in the mail would be pretty low on the list. Clearly, then, you’re smarter than a government bureaucrat. > [China has reportedly](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/mystery-diversion-sends-australian-f35-parts-to-hong-kong/news-story/3ce8908a99bc1ecb6b12e666c93fac27?ref=goodoil.news) taken possession of parts from an Australian F-35 stealth fighter that were diverted to Hong Kong en route to the United States, including the jet’s canopy and a door covering its weapons bay. > > The components left Australia in late May for inspection and possible repair or disposal. The shipment, handled by UPS, stopped in South Korea before being routed to Hong Kong, where the parts disappeared from the supply chain. The reason the delivery changed course, and whether the diversion was deliberate, remains unclear. I mean, they wrote ‘Top Secret stealth fighter jet parts: No peeking!’ on the box in big letters with a Sharpie, and everything. > Chinese authorities subsequently took possession of the components and have not returned them, according to Bloomberg. I mean, if you can’t trust the Chinese not to nick your top-secret stuff, who *can* you trust? For their part, the Chinese have an iron-clad alibi: > A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry told the Australian: “We are not aware of the situation you mentioned.” That sounds like something your sibling would have tried on when you were kids and she nicked your piece of chocolate cake while you weren’t looking. One might imagine that when dealing with the crown jewel of Western air dominance, our betters in Canberra might exercise the kind of caution usually reserved for handling nitroglycerin or perhaps the secret recipe for a decent meat pie. Instead, we have entrusted the global supply chain of our most advanced stealth platform to a logistical system that seems to have the navigational precision of a blindfolded drunken sailor on leave in a typhoon. > The parts, supplied by Lockheed Martin, were coated with radar-absorbing material that helps make the aircraft harder to detect. But the Chinese found them *real* easy. The labels marked: ‘Deliver to the Pentagon: Urgent!’ was the giveaway. Naturally, our Acting Prime Minister, **Richard Marles**, has emerged to soothe our collective brow, insisting with that practised, bland, ministerial confidence that we really shouldn’t fret our pretty little heads about it. Apparently, the bits that went missing were effectively junk, hardly worth the effort of a dedicated espionage cell to pilfer. > Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles confirmed this week that Australia was working with the US and Lockheed Martin to investigate the incident, including “everything that has occurred at the Australian end”. But Mr Marles played down the potential security implications, saying his understanding was that the missing components were not sensitive. One wonders what exactly constitutes ‘sensitive’ in the lexicon of the modern defence apparatchik. If a canopy designed specifically to shield a pilot while maintaining the complex geometry required to vanish from enemy radar is considered a mundane spare part, I shudder to think what they consider high-stakes. Perhaps the entire jet itself is just an oversized paperweight to these people. > “We’re not talking about sensitive equipment here or sensitive parts. Ultimately, though, this is an issue which is going to be managed by the United States and by Lockheed in terms of what has occurred.” And there we have it. The perennial ALP strategy: shrug, abdicate responsibility, and hope the Americans fix it before the neighbours notice we have left the front door wide open. It is a masterful display of the ‘she’ll be right’ school of geopolitics. History, however, has a nasty habit of mocking such nonchalance. The Middle Kingdom has been playing the long game for a very long time, and their appetite for Western military data is not exactly a secret. > China has previously targeted the F-35 in its espionage and intelligence efforts. In 2013, the Pentagon Defence Science Board reported that Chinese cyberattacks accessed data on multiple US weapons programs, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. One can only hope that by the time our missing fuselage bits are finished being reverse-engineered in some laboratory in Shenzhen, we might finally decide that shipping classified military technology via commercial couriers is perhaps not the most robust way to defend the realm. Maybe get Airbus Albo to take it as carry-on, on his inevitable next overseas jaunt to get his belly rubbed by the globalist elite. --- 💡 ****If you enjoyed this article please share it using the share buttons at the top or bottom of the article.**