The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American single-seat, single-engine, supersonic stealth strike fighter. It is a multirole combat aircraft designed for both air superiority and strike missions, it also has electronic warfare and intelligence gathering capability1.
The Royal Australian Air Force has obtained 72 F35s and these are primarily based at Williamtown air base near Newcastle, with some being operated from Tindal air base in the Northern Territory. Numerous parts for the aircraft are also manufactured in Australia2.
Ever since the genocide in Gaza commenced after the Hamas attack on Israel, the federal government has long denied breaching international law by exporting weapons to Israel. However, denial is no longer credible3.
While sending most manufactured parts to a pool of parts in Europe and the US, leaked documents show F-35 parts are being exported directly to Israel by sneaking some into cargo on commercial flights4.
Foreign Minister, Penny Wong stated, in Parliament House: “We are not supplying weapons or ammunition to Israel … As part of the global F-35 supply chain, we are supplying components and parts that are non-lethal in nature5.
I used to have some respect for Penny Wong. She seemed to have a modicum of calm that many politicians lack, a semblance of knowledge that few politicians have and a lack of the bullshit that so many politicians seem to have in spades. However, after this, respecting her is not even vaguely possible. The only lethal part of an F35 aircraft is, in some variants, a 25mm rotary cannon6.
Other than that, there are no ‘lethal’ parts to an F35 aircraft. All its weapons are either in internal weapons bays, on the wingtips, or on pylons under the wings and these are loaded onto the aircraft by ground crew1. The delivery of ‘non-lethal’ parts to Israel allows their F35s to continue operations against civilians on the ground in their tents, homes, schools and hospitals. To use this as an excuse to continue supporting Israel in its genocide in Gaza is at best disingenuous or indicates that Penny Wong is either an idiot herself, or takes the rest of the Australian population for idiots.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II
- https://djsir.vic.gov.au/made-in-victoria/about/manufacturing-case-studies/from-moorabbin-to-space-how-the-f-35-is-taking-victoria-to-the-world
- https://michaelwest.com.au/australia-sells-weapons-parts-directly-to-israel/
- https://declassifiedaus.org/2025/07/11/revealed-australia-has-exported-f-35-fighter-jet-parts-directly-to-israel/
- https://theshot.net.au/uncategorized/a-comprehensive-list-of-the-non-lethal-parts-of-my-big-death-plane/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-12_Equalizer#GAU-22/A