Fact Sheet

The F-35 fighter jet – how Australian exports arm Israel

  • SWOP Team
  • min read
A Lockheed Martin F-35A jet sits in front of a desert landscape

A Royal Australian Air Force Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II ‘Joint Strike Fighter’ taxis at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. 

Image credit: Australia F-35s leave in historic launch by aeroman3 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

The F-35 is one of the world’s most advanced fighter jets, produced by US company Lockheed Martin through a global supply chain that includes Australia. Australia’s leaders often claim that Australia provides no real support to Israel as it does not supply any weapons, but choose to ignore the weapons parts Australia provides, notably for the F-35.

Use of F-35s in Gaza and Lebanon

Israel has admitted to the use of its fleet of 39 F-35s in bombing Gaza since 7 October 2023, with Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of Staff Lt.Gen. Herzi Halevi boasting about the use of F-35s to drop huge 900 kg bombs. He said: “We never did anything like this. With very heavy munitions, a very good connection between what the [ground] force needs and what the plane knows to give.”

Video footage on social media and reports in the Lebanese media have also confirmed the use of F-35s to bomb residential neighbourhoods in Beirut.

Australia’s role

Australia is a member of the global F-35 Joint Strike Fighter partnership, purchasing F-35s for its own fleet, but also permitting local Australian companies to participate in the global production and maintenance supply chains for F-35s, with export of these fighter jet parts for assembly and maintenance then expressly allowed by the Australian Government.

Every F-35 used to drop bombs on Gaza or Lebanon now includes components manufactured only in Australia. As Lockheed Martin previously stated on its website, “Australian businesses are supplying components for the entire F-35 fleet, not just Australian aircraft. Every F-35 built contains some Australian parts and components.”

In October 2023, the RAAF bragged that more than 70 Australian companies had shared more than $4.13 billion in global F-35 production and sustainment contracts.

Australia’s complete integration into the F-35 global supply chain means that every jet that flies has many Australian parts. And with each hour of flight requiring an estimated three hours of maintenance, the ready availability of spare parts is critical to Israel’s war on Gaza.[1]

Australian companies involved

Australian industry has played a role in the global supply chain for F-35 fighter jets since 2006, and more than 70 Australian companies have participated in the production of components for these jets. Typically, where an Australian company manufactures a specific F-35 part they will be the sole global manufacturer for that part, selected globally by Lockheed Martin.

  • Ferra Engineering (Brisbane) is the sole global supplier of the ‘weapons adaptor’ mechanism that holds and releases bombs carried by F-35s.
  • Rosebank Engineering (Melbourne) is the sole global producer of the ‘uplock actuators’ that open and close the jet’s weapons bay doors.
  • Collins Aerospace (Sydney) manufactures the sophisticated infrared imagery capability that gives F-35 pilots a 360-degree view of surroundings, day or night.[2]
  • Quickstep (Sydney) provides approximately $440,000 worth of airframe components for every F-35.
  • Heat Treatment Australia (HTA) (Melbourne) provides “vital” heat treatment to strengthen the components in the F-35s.

International law

Australian parts for F-35 jets are sent to the US first for assembly before the completed planes are sent to Is- rael, and the Australian government does not classify the parts as weapons. But the international Arms Trade Treaty to which Australia is a signatory restricts the export of ‘parts and components’ that may be transferred for use in war crimes, and Australia’s Defence and Strategic Goods List states that ‘parts and accessories’ are military goods for the purpose of export controls.

In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) made a provisional ruling that Israel was plausibly committing genocide in Gaza, and ordered that Israel take all measures in its power to prevent genocidal acts, to prevent and punish the incitement of genocide, to enable the provision of basic services in Gaza, and to preserve evidence relating to the plausible genocide.

Complicity in genocide is also illegal under the Genocide Convention, and in February 2024, a Dutch appeals court found it was likely that F-35s were being used in the attacks on Gaza, and that there was a “clear risk” that parts exported from the Netherlands’ European regional F35 parts warehouse were “used in serious violations of international humanitarian law”.[3]

Every F-35 that Israel has used to drop bombs on Gaza or Lebanon since 7 October 2023 involves components manufactured in Australia. As long as our government refuses to stop arming Israel, Australian companies will continue profiting off genocide.

Sources

  1. Dania Akkad, “Legal battles loom over supply chain keeping Israeli F-35s flying over Gaza and Lebanon” Middle East Eye, 4 October 2024.
  2. “Australian industry delivers 1000th F-35 infrared imagery capability”, Media release by Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Melissa Price MP, 31 August 2020.
  3. Kellie Tranter, “Australia’s role in the bombing of Gaza”, Declassified Australia, 17 November 2023.

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