Pentagon says classified data on U.S. F-35 jet fighter program remains secure

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday said classified data about the $399 billion F-35 fighter jet program remains secure, despite fresh documents released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden last week which said China stole "many terabytes" of data about the jet.

The U.S. Defense Department's F-35 program office said the latest documents released by the German magazine Der Spiegel "rehashed" a previously disclosed and reported incident that occurred in 2010, which compromised only non-classified data about the new warplane being built by Lockheed Martin Corp .

"Classified F-35 information is protected and remains secure," the program office said in a statement released Tuesday. It said all potential cyber-attacks were taken seriously and the 2010 incident was not expected to cause any negative impact to the program.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Diane Craft)