Just bureaucratic regulations. Just have to wait to see if using the alloy breaks the rules and, if it does, wait even more months to get the right red stamp on a waiver to use the stocks they’ve already got and the ones already installed in jets due for delivery.
”The Pentagon has temporarily stopped accepting deliveries of the
Lockheed Martin-made
F-35 after it found that an alloy used in magnets on the jet’s turbomachine pumps was produced in China.
The F-35 program office has assessed that the Chinese alloy does not present a safety or security risk that could expose the stealth jet to cyber attacks or other malfeasance, and an alternative source for the alloy has already been identified, F-35 JPO spokesman Russell Goemaere said in a statement. As a result, there are no plans to ground the F-35 fleet or return jets already accepted to Lockheed.
However, it is unclear when F-35s with magnets made from the new alloy will begin rolling off the production line, and if the Chinese alloy is found to violate defense acquisition regulations, it would take a national defense waiver for deliveries to resume.”…..