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BBC News
22-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
F-35B in Kerala: UK fighter jet stuck in India for five weeks leaves for Australia
A state-of-the-art British fighter jet that had been stuck at an Indian airport for more than five weeks is now airborne and on its way to Darwin in F-35B was pulled back from the hangar on Monday after it was deemed fit to fly, an airport spokesman told the jet first landed on 14 June at Thiruvananthapuram airport in the southern state of Kerala where it was diverted after it ran into bad weather during a sortie in the Indian Ocean. It then developed a technical prolonged presence on Indian soil sparked curiosity and raised questions about how such a modern aircraft could remain stranded in a foreign country for so long. The plane was part of the fleet of HMS Prince of Wales. Officials have not said why it was flying to Darwin, but it's most likely because the Royal Navy's flagship carrier is still in the the past few days, HMS Prince of Wales has been posting updates and photos on X (formerly Twitter) from the joint exercises it has been conducting off the coast of the plane was unable to return, engineers from the ship had visited it to fix they were unable to repair it, and a fortnight back, the UK ministry of defence said they had deployed a team of 14 engineers "to Thiruvananthapuram airport to assess and repair the F-35B aircraft".The curious case of the British jet stuck in IndiaThere had been speculation that if the technicians failed to repair the aircraft, it would have to be dismantled and carried out in a bigger cargo plane such as a C-17 Globemaster transport the past two weeks - including on Monday - the UK high commission in India and the defence authorities responded to the BBC's messages saying they would not share details of repairs.F-35Bs are highly advanced stealth jets, built by Lockheed Martin, and are prized for their short take-off and vertical landing of the "lonely F-35B", parked on the tarmac and soaked by the Kerala monsoon rains, made it a subject of jokes and memes with many suggesting that it did not want to leave the scenic state of Kerala, described as "God's own country" in tourism case of the stranded $110m (£80m) jet was also raised in the House of BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook
The Independent
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv claims Moscow has lost more than one million soldiers
Russia has lost more than one million troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian military has claimed. The claim by the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces is in line with Western intelligence estimates and underlines the huge price paid by Moscow for its three-year-old invasion. In a statement posted on X on Thursday, the UK Ministry of Defence also said that Russia has suffered more than one million casualties, including roughly 250,000 killed since it launched the full-scale invasion on February 24 2022. The MoD said the figures highlighted 'the devastating human cost Putin is inflicting on his own people'. Russia last reported its military casualties early in the war when it said that around 6,000 soldiers had been killed. The figures come as both sides continued to swap severely wounded prisoners of war on Thursday as part of an agreement struck during talks in Istanbul.
BBC News
08-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
British army in Kenya: Soldier detained over rape allegation
A UK soldier has been accused of raping a woman near a British army training camp in Kenya where another soldier has previously been accused of alleged rape happened last month close to the British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk) near the town of Nanyuki, 200km (125 miles) north of the capital, man was arrested and questioned following the alleged incident after a group of soldiers visited a bar in the investigation is being carried out by UK military police from the Defence Serious Crime Unit which looks into crimes allegedly committed by British service personnel in the UK and overseas. The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed in a statement that a "service person" had been detained in Kenya."Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces and any reporting of a serious crime by serving personnel is investigated independently from their chain of command," the MoD alleged rape involving a soldier from the British base in Kenya follows previous allegations that a soldier stationed in Kenya was involved in the murder of a local woman in body of Agnes Wanjiru, who was 21 and a mother of one, was found in a septic tank near the Batuk base three weeks after she disappeared, allegedly after spending the evening with British Sunday Times reported in 2021 that a British soldier was believed to have been responsible for her MoD has since said it is cooperating with a Kenyan investigation into the Batuk base was established in 1964 shortly after the East African nation gained independence from the UK military has an agreement with Kenya under which it can deploy up to six army battalions a year for periods of training at the the British army has faced a string of allegations about the conduct of some UK personnel at the camp.A public inquiry set up by Kenyan MPs last year heard details of alleged mistreatment of local people by British allegations including a reported hit-and-run incident, and claims that some British soldiers had got local women pregnant before abandoning them and their children when they returned to the UK. You may also be interested in: Agnes Wanjiru murder: Kenya family's anger over UK army 'cover-up'Kenyans sue the British army over fire at wildlife sanctuary Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
