Exclusive: Fighter jet components are being transported on Maersk ships to an Israeli air force base, cargo documents suggest.
By JOHN McEVOY
4 April 2025
Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk is quietly transporting fighter jet components to Israel, new documents suggest.
The information is contained within cargo data reviewed exclusively by Declassified and The Ditch.
The data exposes how goods from US Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth are being transported to Nevatim air base in Israel on two Maersk container ships between 5 April and 1 May.
Air Force Plant 4 is a US government-owned facility which is operated by Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor in the international consortium that produces F-35 jets.
It hosts a mile-long factory where F-35 fighter jets and components are produced before being dispatched to NATO partners and allies including Israel.
Nevatim air base is home to Israel’s squadron of F-35s, which have been used to commit war crimes in Gaza.
Last year, the Israeli air force used an F-35 fighter jet to drop a 2,000lb bomb on a designated safe zone in Gaza, Al-Mawasi, killing 90 people.
A representative from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), an organisation which has led an international campaign against Maersk, commented: “This shipment from Lockheed Martin aboard their vessels will ensure the maintenance and repair of Israeli F-35s, allowing them to return to field operations in Gaza.
“These Israeli fighter jets criss-cross Palestine’s skies every day; they are the military foundation for the current Israeli genocide, which has indiscriminately targeted every facet of social life in Gaza, murdering and maiming hundreds of thousands of our people from the air”.
Transatlantic voyage
The components will be loaded onto a cargo ship named Maersk Detroit, which sets sail from the port of Houston on 5 April.
The US-flagged Maersk Detroit will cross the Atlantic and dock two weeks later in Tangier, Morocco, where the cargo will be transferred onto another container ship named Nexoe Maersk.
This latter ship will be arriving in Tangier from Algeciras in Spain, where arms shipments to Israel have been the subject of protest campaigns.
It will take nine days for Nexoe Maersk to travel through the Mediterranean Sea before arriving at the Port of Haifa, Israel, scheduled for 1 May. The cargo will then be transported on land to Nevatim air base, a key launchpad for the Israeli air force’s bombing campaigns in Gaza.
The use of a cargo ship to transport what appears to be fighter jet components to Israel may signal a change in the usual supply chain.
Over the past year, the US has typically transported F-35 parts to Tel Aviv on cargo planes, suggesting the Maersk ships will be carrying larger or heavier items.
More than 2,000 shipments by Maersk
Maersk, the world’s largest integrated logistics and shipping company, has come under intense scrutiny for transporting military supplies for Israel.
In November 2024, the PYM revealed how the company had “shipped millions of pounds (lb) of military goods to the Israeli military from the United States, across more than 2,000 shipments” between September 2023 and September 2024.
It further showed how “2,110 US shipments on Maersk vessels [were] listed as being shipped to or on behalf of the Government of Israel’s Ministry of Defense”, with 827 of those “for armored vehicles, tactical vehicles, weapons systems, or parts thereof”.
The revelations led to protests in Tangier, Morocco, where Maersk will be transshipping the military cargo bound for Israel between 20 and 22 April.
The PYM also pressured the government of Spain to block the entry of Maersk vessels suspected of carrying military goods to Israel, leading the US Federal Maritime Commission to open an inquiry into the possibility of levelling punitive sanctions against Spanish shipping.
Yemen’s Houthis have targeted Maersk’s shipping operations as part of their efforts to blockade trade routes to Israel.
In January 2024, the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the Maersk Detroit while it was passing through the Gulf of Aden. US Central Command said one missile hit the sea while the other two were shot down by a US warship.
The company’s US-flagged subsidiary, Maersk Line, Limited (MLL), operates ships that support the American government.
Air Force Plant 4
Israel acquired its first two F-35 fighter jets in 2016. Since then, Israel has received an additional 40 F-35s, and aims to increase the size of its fleet to 75 over the coming years.
Lockheed Martin’s Air Force Plant 4 has been integral to Israel’s procurement of the fighter jets. In June 2016, Israel’s defence minister Avigdor Liberman travelled to the Texas site to see the F-35s unveiled.
“The F-35’s technology represents the crown jewel of air power superiority”, Liberman told a crowd. The rollout ceremony was broadcast live on Israeli television, with Lieberman adding that the jet would “dramatically enhance” Israel’s ability to defend itself against both “conventional and unconventional” threats.
Israeli air force chief Brigadier General Tal Kelman was also at the ceremony. He said: “As a pilot who has flown more than 30 years in a great variety of aircraft, I had the privilege of flying the F-35 simulator in Fort Worth and it was like holding the future in my hands”.
Lockheed Martin chairman Marillyn Hewson added: “We’re honored to partner with Israel and help strengthen the deep and lasting partnership between our two nations”.
Britain’s F-35 support
Over 15% of the components for the F-35 are made in the UK, including the rear fuselage, ejector seat and electronics. More than 100 UK-based companies contribute to the fighter jet’s supply chain.
In December 2024, Declassified and The Ditch revealed that over 500 shipments of F-35 parts had been sent from a British air base to the US, where they could be onward exported to Israel.
Most of the arms shipments from Britain were sent to Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, the epicentre of F-35 production and source of the most recent US shipment to Israel.
This raises the prospect that the weapons components being shipped from the US to Nevatim air base could have been produced in Britain.
The UK government announced restrictions on some arms export licences to Israel last year but has continued to allow F-35 components to be supplied to the Israeli air force via third countries.
In response to previous criticism, Maersk issued a statement last year saying it has “contracts with the U.S. government” and transports cargo to “over 180 countries under security cooperation programs” which includes “military-related cargo to Israel”.
The company said: “The U.S. security cooperation program prohibits transporting classified or sensitive cargo, which includes weapons and ammunition, without a Transportation Plan submitted by the transporter and approved by the U.S. government”.
A representative of the PYM in Britain commented: “We will continue to build with left forces, labour unions, and people of conscience across the world in order to enact a people’s arms embargo against the Western-backed military supply chain that supplies Zionist war and ethnic cleansing”.
They added: “Britain’s collaboration in the genocide must come to an end, and we will fight every day to ensure it does”.
Maersk and Lockheed Martin were approached for comment.
Published at www.declassifieduk.org
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