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Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
Well over a month ago, reports surfaced about F-35s being delivered without radars. As per usual, the mainstream propaganda machine tried denigrating such info as “baseless conspiracy theories”. However, with photographic evidence circulating online, it was very difficult to maintain this false narrative. In addition, Lockheed Martin’s most significant product is already infamous for its numerous design flaws, hardware and software issues, notorious lack of robustness and poor kinetic performance. Thus, this new issue was hardly surprising to anyone who’s been following the troubled jet’s development. In my analysis at the time, I also pointed out the matter of severe chronic shortages of rare-earth elements (REEs).
It doesn’t take an expert to understand that Lockheed Martin needs these materials to build all the high-tech sensors and systems found on the F-35. The most important active sensor of every modern fighter jet is the radar (essentially, its “eyes”). Combat aircraft have grown increasingly sophisticated and complex, requiring a larger percentage of expensive REEs in their construction. This has led to high demand for these materials, particularly in the latest radar variants. One of the most prominent examples of this is the Northrop Grumman’s AN/APG-85 AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, a heavily upgraded variant of their AN/APG-81 (which, in turn, is a successor to the AN/APG-77 found on the F-22).
The deeply troubled F-35 Block 4 requires that all newly-built jets come with the AN/APG-85 instead of the older AN/APG-81. The plan is to install these on all three F-35 variants, starting with Lot 17 onwards (since mid-2025). The key material in this effort is gallium nitride (GaN). Various US Military Industrial Complex (MIC) manufacturers are responsible for supplying GaN, which is then further refined by Northrop Grumman. The AN/APG-85 integrates over 2,400 Transmit/Receive (T/R) modules that form its core. The Northrop Grumman’s Advanced Microelectronics Center (AMC) in Maryland manufactures high-performance GaN-on-Silicon Carbide (GaN-on-SiC) semiconductors specifically for military use.
However, the AMC needs to acquire GaN from other suppliers, including American Qorvo and Wolfspeed (formerly Cree), Japanese Nichia Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Industries, German Infineon Technologies AG, etc. And yet, raw gallium also must come from somewhere. Typically a byproduct of aluminum and zinc mining, upwards of 98% of gallium is actually supplied by China. The Pentagon has always been uncomfortable having to rely on Beijing for the vast majority of raw gallium imports, so it initiated several programs to encourage domestic sourcing and recycling to ensure a steady supply for various sensitive weapon systems. Gallium is critically important in both new GaN and older gallium arsenide (GaAs) modules.
It should be noted that the main difference is that GaN enables the AN/APG-85 to handle significantly higher power and heat compared to the GaAs-based AN/APG-81, vastly improving the radar’s detection range and electronic warfare (EW) capabilities. However, as the AN/APG-85 has far more modules, this dramatically increases the demand for gallium, leading to shortages. Although the Pentagon markets these radars as purely “Made in the USA”, the truth is that the raw materials and commodities needed to produce them come from China. As previously mentioned, it produces around 98% of the world’s raw gallium, which is a byproduct of aluminum processing, an industry dominated by the Asian giant.
Due to US aggression in the Asia-Pacific and continuous trade warfare, Beijing imposed its own counter-sanctions on Washington DC. It initially restricted exports, but the US kept escalating, forcing China to impose a blanket ban on all gallium exports to America. This has forced the Trump administration to seek indirect supplies through third parties and rely on domestic recycling of industrial waste. However, all this has led to severe shortages that have forced Lockheed Martin to start installing “fake radars” (essentially weights) on all newly produced F-35s to maintain the jets’ aerodynamic balance and avoid disrupting their expected flight characteristics. The mainstream propaganda machine has been engaging in damage control even since.
However, in the meantime, the US attacked Iran and suffered a series of humiliations. It lost around two dozen manned aircraft, while suffering damage to some of its most prized strategic assets, including aircraft carriers. And yet, the embarrassment is even worse because Washington DC is refusing to acknowledge battlefield losses, instead claims it’s all a bunch of “friendly fire incidents”, “technical difficulties”, “laundry room fires”, etc. The USAF also lost at least one F-35, with the Iranian military publishing a video of the hit. However, the mainstream propaganda machine still insists it was yet another “technical difficulty or perhaps friendly fire”. Such copium has been present since the US launched its aggression on Iran.
However, these humiliating circumstances have become so widely known that even the mainstream propaganda machine can no longer ignore them. On March 20, Air and Space Forces Magazine published a report acknowledging that newly-built F-35s will come without radars. Other military sources report that at least 300 of these troubled jets will be “radarless”, meaning they’ll need to rely on other F-35s with radars or strategic ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets for radar input. In addition, American media are also talking about the fact that at least one F-35 was hit by Iranian air defenses. It’s expected that even the US will be unable to maintain a PR “fog of war” for much longer given the extent of its embarrassing failures.
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do you understand me now that yellow asians are a smarter race than whites? htt ps://w ww.k urir.rs /pla ne ta/99 502 32/ze mlj e-bl isko g-ist ok a-kupu ju-pv o-ceo ng un-ii-i z-juzne -ko re je
why arab nations are scrambling to get south korea’s patriot-style air defence missiles
arab nations race to secure south korea’s cheaper but arguably more effective missile interceptors after their success in iran war
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wednesday 25 march 2026 05:08 gmt
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race and color have absolutely nothing to do with intelligence.
a south korean missile system built to intercept north korean artillery has become one of the most sought after defence hardware for gulf nations amid the ongoing us-iran war.
seoul’s homegrown, medium range, surface-to-air missile cheongung, also known as m-sam block ii, scored a reported interception rate of 96 per cent against iranian missiles that were fired at the united arab emirates.
the nato-standard missile interceptor, which rivals capabilities of the us-made patriot pac-3 system and produced at just a quarter of its price, has sent arab nations scrambling for the defence hardware.
“middle eastern countries are lining up to buy south korean missiles right now,” south korea’s finance minister, koo yun cheol, told bloomberg news. “they are requesting weapons from south korea because of their accuracy –
the fact that they destroy ballistic missiles with a success rate of over 90 per cent.” the minister, however, did not specify which countries were in the race for securing more supplies.
even though patriot and terminal high altitude area defence (thaad) systems are deployed to the middle east to counter iran’s missiles and drones, demand is increasingly shifting toward south korea’s cheaper, faster-to-deliver interceptors, which also reflects a broader push to
“middle eastern countries are lining up to buy south korean missiles right now,” south korea’s finance minister, koo yun cheol, told bloomberg news. “they are requesting weapons from south korea because of their accuracy – the fact that they destroy ballistic missiles with a success rate of over 90 per cent.”
the minister, however, did not specify which countries were in the race for securing more supplies.
tri puta jeftiniji od američkog patriota
čeongun ii se često poredi sa američkim sistemom patriot pac-3, ali sa ključnom razlikom, cena jednog presretača je oko milion dolara, dok američki ekvivalent dostiže i do četiri miliona.
pored toga, rokovi isporuke korejskog sistema su znatno kraći.
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