In late September, the Pentagon was in up in arms. An engine part in the U.S. Air Force's F-35 fighter jet was found to have been sourced from China. The revelation came barely weeks after the Department of Defense had halted delivery of the fighter from Lockheed Martin after finding another Chinese component had also found its way into the F-35.

Foreign components finding their way into military equipment is increasingly seen as a potential threat to national security—especially if those components originate in China or Russia. As a result, the sourcing of defense-related assets has been under a harsh spotlight for the past few years, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.