UK Agrees To Move F-35B Jet Stranded At Kerala Airport For 2 Weeks: 'We Thank...'
Last Updated:
British F-35B fighter jet has been grounded at Kerala airport for two weeks due to "engineering issues".
The British F-35B fighter aircraft, which has been stranded in Kerala for two weeks following its emergency landing, will be shifted to the airport's hangar after the engineering teams from the UK arrive with specialist equipment, a High Commission spokesperson said on Friday.
Earlier, it was reported that the UK Navy had urged that the jet not be moved to the hangar, possibly because they didn't want others to get a close look at the fighter jet's 'protected technologies".
The High Commission said that the aircraft, which landed at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on June 14, developed engineering issues whilst on the ground. The UK has accepted the offer by the Indian authorities to move the aircraft to the hangar, the spokesperson said.
'A UK F-35B aircraft is awaiting repairs at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport after developing an engineering issue. The UK has accepted an offer to move the aircraft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility at the airport. The aircraft will be moved to the hangar once UK engineering teams arrive with specialist equipment, thereby ensuring there is minimal disruption to scheduled maintenance of other aircraft," the spokesperson said.
The High Commission thanked the Indian authorities for their support and said that the safety and security precautions of the jet are being taken.
'The aircraft will return to active service once repairs and safety checks have been completed. Ground teams continue to work closely with Indian authorities to ensure safety and security precautions are observed. We thank the Indian authorities and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport for their continued support," the statement added.
On Wednesday, a High Commission statement had said that a team from the UK will arrive in India for repairs, but did not give any timelines as to when the jet will be able to take off again.
'A UK F-35 aircraft was unable to return to HMS Prince of Wales due to adverse weather conditions. Prioritising safety, the aircraft diverted to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in India, where it landed safely. The aircraft has subsequently developed an engineering issue whilst on the ground, which precluded its return to the Carrier," the UK High Commission said earlier.
'Engineers from HMS Prince of Wales assessed the aircraft, and it was decided that the support of a UK-based engineering team was needed. At this time, we do not have a forecast for the aircraft being repaired. To minimise disruptions to the regular airport operations, the aircraft will be moved to a space in the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility hangar once specialist equipment and UK engineering teams arrive," it added.
The advanced fifth-generation fighter jet, part of the Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group deployed to the Indo-Pacific, was returning to its base after completing joint sea exercises with the Indian Navy. Officials said the jet couldn't land on the aircraft carrier on the night of June 14 due to bad weather. For safety reasons, it was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram airport, where it landed safely.
First Published:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
22 minutes ago
- Indian Express
F-35B jet to be moved to MRO facility at Kerala airport: UK
Nearly two weeks after an F-35B 'Lightning' stealth fighter jet of the Royal Navy made an emergency landing at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport and continued to remain grounded, the UK said it has accepted an offer to move the aircraft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility at the airport. A British High Commission spokesperson said a UK F-35B aircraft is awaiting repairs at the airport after developing an engineering issue. 'The aircraft will be moved to the hangar once UK engineering teams arrive with specialist equipment, thereby ensuring there is minimal disruption to scheduled maintenance of other aircraft,' the spokesperson said, adding that the aircraft will return to active service once repairs and safety checks have been completed. 'Ground teams continue to work closely with Indian authorities to ensure safety and security precautions are observed. We thank the Indian authorities and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport for their continued support,' the spokesperson said. Since the emergency landing of the fighter jet on June 14, it has remained unserviceable. Manufactured by American defence and aerospace major Lockheed Martin and worth over USD 110 million, the F-35B jet is among the most advanced fighter jets in the world. This fighter jet was operating from the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. The jet was undertaking a routine sortie outside the Indian Air Defence Identification Zone with Thiruvananthapuram earmarked as an emergency recovery airfield. After that, it could not return to the aircraft carrier after getting caught in adverse weather conditions. According to officials, Royal Navy technicians from the carrier strike group had earlier attempted to repair the F-35B jet, but were unsuccessful. The aircraft had remained stranded at the airport since then. HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Richmond had visited India as part of a UK carrier strike group for naval Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in the north Arabian Sea.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Indian authorities decide to accord observer status to ICAO expert in AI plane crash probe: Source
New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) Indian authorities have decided to accord observer status to UN body ICAO's expert in the ongoing probe into the fatal Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, a top official source said on Friday. In a not-so-common move, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has sought observer status for its expert in the investigation. Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI 171 en-route to London Gatwick crashed into a medical hostel complex soon after take-off from Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 270 people, including 241 people who were onboard the plane. One passenger survived. The probe into the crash is in progress. On Friday, the official source told PTI that after considering the request, it has been decided to accord the observer status to ICAO expert in the investigation. The Indian authorities are approaching the probe in a transparent manner, the official source emphasised. Further details could not be immediately ascertained. An aircraft accident investigation is carried out as per Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention. The International Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) contained in the nineteen Technical Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (also called Chicago Convention) are applied universally and produce a high degree of technical uniformity which has enabled international civil aviation to develop in a safe, orderly and efficient manner, as per ICAO website. SARPS have been developed by ICAO, which was established in 1944. On Thursday, the civil aviation ministry said data is being extracted from black boxes, and analysis of cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the crashed aircraft is underway. AAIB promptly initiated an investigation and constituted a multi-disciplinary team headed by the AAIB chief on June 13 in line with prescribed norms. The team includes an aviation medicine specialist, an Air Traffic Control (ATC) officer, and representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the ministry had said in a statement.
The Print
an hour ago
- The Print
‘Hydraulic snag' keeps UK's F-35 grounded in Kerala, puts spotlight on stealth jet's track record
As earlier reported by ThePrint, the aircraft had been operating from the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, which had recently concluded joint exercises with the Indian Navy and was flying outside India's Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) when it was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram, designated as an emergency recovery airfield. Preliminary assessments also indicated that the aircraft may have also experienced fuel starvation during its final approach, which could have damaged components critical to its vertical landing function. In a statement Thursday, the British High Commission said that the jet would be finally moved to a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hangar once specialist equipment and an engineering team from the UK arrive. Reportedly, a special towing vehicle, along with a 40-member team of British engineers and technical specialists, has been flown in from the UK to assess and service the grounded F-35B. New Delhi: Nearly two weeks after making an emergency landing due to a suspected hydraulic failure, the British Royal Navy F-35B Lightning II fighter jet remains grounded at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, guarded by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). The Indian Air Force (IAF) had confirmed that the British fighter declared an emergency mid-flight and was detected and cleared for landing by the IAF's Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS). Also Read: Week since emergency landing, UK's F-35B fighter still grounded in Kerala; military airlift likely Maintenance woes flagged in official reviews The F-35B is the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of Lockheed Martin's fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter, with an estimated unit cost of around $110 million (approximately Rs 920 crore). Designed for operations from aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, it is equipped with a swivelling engine nozzle and a shaft-driven LiftFan to enable vertical landings which depend heavily on hydraulic mechanisms. Subsequently, hydraulic failures in such platforms can impact the functioning of control surfaces, landing gear, brakes and in the case of the F-35B, its vertical lift system. A 2024 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) put the average repair time for major F-35 components, including hydraulics, at 141 days, well above the programme's initial target of 60 days. The delays were attributed to spare parts shortages, limited maintenance capacity and global supply chain bottlenecks in the report. It also projected total lifetime sustainment costs for the F-35 programme at $1.58 trillion (Rs 132 lakh crore), up 44 percent from a 2018 estimate of $1.1 trillion (Rs 92 lakh crore), making it one of the most expensive American weapon programmes. Despite these cost and maintenance challenges, the Pentagon intends to procure around 2,500 F-35 aircraft across all three variants, with operational service expected to continue into the 2080s. Primarily flown by the U.S. Marine Corps, the F-35B is one of the three variants in the F-35 family. The F-35A, a conventional take-off and landing model used by the U.S. Air Force and multiple allied air forces; and the F-35C, a carrier-based variant operated exclusively by the U.S. Navy. For the F-35B variant, annual sustainment costs are estimated at between $6.6 and $6.8 million (Rs 55-57 crore) per aircraft, again exceeding earlier projections. Moreover, a report by the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) within the U.S. Department of Defense, published in early 2024, flagged multiple unresolved issues in the F-35 programme, including reliability concerns, inaccuracies in the gun system and logistical burdens, particularly with the F-35B. Despite these flagged concerns, the Department of Defense approved full-rate production of the F-35 in March 2024, just weeks after the report's release. The American think tank Project on Government Oversight (POGO) stated that members of the U.S. Congress had limited access to the classified test findings prior to the production approval. In another case in December 2022, the Israeli Air Force temporarily grounded 11 of its F-35 fighters following the crash of a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B in Texas earlier that year. The precautionary measure was reportedly based on guidance from the Joint Program Office to inspect aircraft that could be affected by a shared propulsion issue. Despite scrutiny, the F-35 is widely considered the most advanced multirole combat aircraft in service today. At the NATO Summit in The Hague on Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that Britain would acquire at least 12 F-35A aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF). This would mark the RAF's first acquisition of the conventional variant, which is certified to carry the US-built B61 nuclear bomb. The move will restore the UK's capability for both nuclear and conventional air-launched strike missions, capabilities not held since the Cold War. Notably, the UK was also the first country to exclusively order the F-35B variant, having placed an order for 48 aircraft. Of these, 37 have been delivered since the first aircraft arrived in 2012. Furthermore, according to a Strategic Defence Review published by the UK Ministry of Defence earlier this month, the future of the British Lightning Force will involve a mix of F-35A and F-35B variants. The review noted that the final composition would be determined based on operational needs and cost-efficiency. While the F-35A is not carrier-compatible, it offers advantages aligned with the UK's strategic and financial priorities. (Edited by Tony Rai) Also Read: MoD signs 13 contracts worth nearly Rs 2,000 crore to beef up Army's counter-terrorism capabilities
