The company linked to a chemical leak in the US state of California that prompted up to 50,000 residents to evacuate over the weekend produces components for F-35 fighter jets that are likely destined for Israel, according to a report by US-based news website The Intercept.
The incident occurred at GKN Aerospace’s facility in Garden Grove, California, where a chemical storage tank ruptured last week. Since 2017, the plant has received more than $13 million in subcontract work from defense manufacturing giant Lockheed Martin, the report said.
According to the report, Lockheed Martin relies on hundreds of subcontractors in more than a dozen countries to support F-35 production. One of these companies is GKN Aerospace Transparency Inc., a Garden Grove-based subsidiary of GKN, which has secured over $255 million in Lockheed Martin subcontracts.
“While GKN chases contracts and profits, our community pays the price with school closures and disrupted livelihoods,” Sofia Awaida, an organiser with the Palestinian Youth Movement and Garden Grove resident who was evacuated due to the leak, said on Tuesday.
“And our people abroad pay the price when the same weapon systems produced here are used to massacre people in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Iran and all across the region.”
GKN Aerospace says its Garden Grove facility is the leading producer of the acrylic transparency canopy that encloses the F-35 fighter jet cockpit. Methyl methacrylate, the highly flammable chemical that began leaking from the plant last week, is a key ingredient in these protective canopies.
“Due to the nature of the F-35’s global supply chain, it is likely that the F-35 components produced at the Garden Grove facility are incorporated into aircraft exported to Israel,” said John Ramming Chappell, advocacy and legal advisor at Center for Civilians in Conflict.
“This is the same type of aircraft that the Israeli military has used to kill civilians and violate international humanitarian law.”
