Eurasia Press & News
Exclusive: Parts for Israel’s most advanced fighter jet have been secretly shipped from a British military base during the assault on Gaza.
F-35 fighter jet parts have been secretly transported to Israel from a British air force base in Norfolk, it can be revealed.
At least seven arms shipments have been sent from RAF Marham to Israel’s F-35 airbase at Nevatim since the Gaza bombing began.
Two of the deliveries took place this summer shortly after Keir Starmer became UK prime minister.
The information is contained within cargo documents reviewed by The Ditch and Declassified.
The documents show that the UK government has not only been approving F-35 export licences to Israel, but actively facilitating their transportation through British military sites.
F-35 supplies have become particularly controversial after it emerged that Israel used one of the planes to bomb a designated safe zone in Gaza, Al-Mawasi, killing 90 people.
Campaign Against Arms Trade’s Sam Perlo-Freeman told Declassified: “The F-35 plays a major part in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and brutal bombardment and invasion of Lebanon”.
He added that “the UK is not only licensing the supply of spare parts, but actively using UK military assets to facilitate their delivery. This makes UK ministers and potentially even military personnel complicit in war crimes”.
The International Criminal Court is currently considering arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant. Human Rights Watch has warned that countries supplying Israel with arms could be complicit.
F-35 shipments
The seven shipments of F-35 parts from RAF Marham took place on 11 November 2023, 13 January, 21 January, 7 February, 28 April, 28 July, and 6 August 2024.
In six of those cases, the registered sender was the Lockheed Martin UK Integrated Systems office which is based in Havant, a town near Portsmouth.
Lockheed Martin is a major US arms corporation and the lead player in the international consortium that produces the F-35 fighter jets.
The Havant site is Lockheed Martin’s main headquarters in Britain, employing over 500 staff and working on the F-35 programme.
The components were transferred from RAF Marham to Heathrow Airport, and then transported to Tel Aviv on cargo flights operated by Israeli airline El Al.
For each shipment, the ultimate recipient of the F-35 parts carries the postcode 8955000, which corresponds with the address of Nevatim airbase.
This site, located in the Negev desert, houses Israel’s F-35 squadrons. It has been a key target for Iran’s ballistic missile strikes.
Lockheed Martin told Declassified: “Our company’s success depends on an enduring commitment to business integrity which includes adhering to all United Kingdom government guidelines on the export of defence and dual use equipment from the UK to any country”.
RAF Marham
Based in Norfolk, RAF Marham describes itself as “the home of the F-35 Lightning, a fifth generation, multi-role, stealth fighter”.
Over 15% of the components for the F-35 are made in the UK, including the rear fuselage, tail parts, and electronics. The fighter jet has been described as the most “lethal” in the world.
IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, inspected Israel’s fleet of F-35 warplanes in November 2023 and said they provide “a very good connection” with ground forces operating in Gaza.
Last month, Danish media outlet Danwatch revealed that one of Israel’s F-35 jets was involved in a devastating attack in Gaza on the designated safe zone of Al-Mawasi.
This marked the first time that an F-35 jet had been directly linked to a specific air attack on Gaza.
90 people were killed in the attack and at least 300 more were injured. Eleven named women and children were identified among those killed.
“There are people who have lost limbs everywhere. It is a scene that no human being can imagine”, one witness told French news outlet AFP.
Munitions for Israel
Labour suspended some arms export licences to Israel last month but will continue to allow shipments of F-35 components to Israel through “global hubs”.
The UK Ministry of Defence did not dispute that F-35 parts had been supplied directly to Israel from RAF Marham on the dates found by The Ditch and Declassified.
An MoD spokesperson said: “In keeping with the government’s announcement on arms exports in September, there have been no exports of F-35 parts direct to Israel via RAF Marham since that licencing suspension.
“UK components for the multinational F-35 programme are excluded from that decision, except where going directly to Israel”.
Andy McDonald MP told parliament this week that “although the UK has suspended 30… licences” to Israel, “our continued participation in the F-35 global supply chain means that devastating 2,000-lb bombs continue to destroy human beings”.
The Ditch has been covering flights over Irish airspace carrying munitions for Israel. Earlier this year, they revealed that more than 90 tonnes of munitions had been illegally flown to Israel through Irish sovereign airspace.
The Irish government said it was looking into the matter but flights carrying munitions for Israel have continued to travel through Ireland’s airspace.
Declassified subsequently reported that some of those munitions had passed through British airspace en route to Israel.
Sam Perlo-Freeman from Campaign Against Arms Trade commented: “The UK must urgently impose a complete arms embargo on Israel. This is the single most effective thing the government can do towards achieving the ceasefire it claims to want”.
The Israeli Ministry of Defence refused to comment.
