11-08-2025
Second UK F-35 stealth jet is forced to make an emergency landing weeks after another of the £88m warplanes was left stranded in India for a month
A British F-35B was forced to make an emergency landing in Japan just weeks after another of the stealth jets was left stuck in India due to a mechanical fault.
The sophisticated £88million fighter jet was diverted to Kagoshima International Airport at around 11.30am local time on Sunday.
It had been carrying out a sortie from the Royal Navy's £3.5billion aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, which is spearheading the UK carrier strike group in the Indo-Pacific.
The warplane, one of around 24 embarked on the British supercarrier, reportedly suffered an engineering issue mid-flight and needed an emergency inspection.
Footage of the jet shows it touching down at the airport at around 2pm local time, with the incident leading to the closure of the site's runway for around 20 minutes.
'The aircraft landed at Kagoshima Airport due to a malfunction,' Japan's defence ministry said in a statement.
The jet is the second in the British airwing to suffer a technical glitch during the overseas mission to the Far East.
In June, an F-35 was forced to make an emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram Airport in Kerala, in southern India, after hitting bad weather in the Indian Ocean.
A British F-35B jet from HMS Prince of Wales made a precautionary emergency landing at Kagoshima Airport, Japan, due to a technical issue.
The incident comes weeks after another F-35B from the same carrier was stranded in India.
— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 10, 2025
However, the stealth jet was left stranded at the airport for more than a month after a reported hydraulic failure left it unable to take off.
British engineers had to be flown out with specialist equipment to repair the jet, which was able to return to the carrier strike group on July 22.
But the F-35's engineering woes led to it becoming the butt of a ruthless joke by Indian media, who mocked it for being left stuck at the airport.
Kerala's own government tourist board turned the clapped-out fighter jet into a meme, posting an AI-generated poster poking fun at it.
Pictured alongside palm trees and a fake TripAdvisor-style five-star review, the viral post said: 'Kerala is such an amazing place, I don't want to leave. Definitely recommend.' It was signed off by 'UK F-F35B'.
The F-35s are the most costly defence programme Britain has ever indulged in, costing the taxpayers' billions of pounds.
Last month the National Audit Office warned it will cost around £71billion over its lifetime - which includes aircraft, personnel and infrastructure costs.
The Kerala Tourism board tweeted a tongue-in-cheek post about the stranded F-35 in June
This is significantly higher than the Ministry of Defence's own estimates of around £18.76billion.
Britain currently has 37 of the jets in service, against a pledge to buy a total of 138. One of the jets has already been destroyed following an accident in 2021 that saw it plunging off HMS Queen Elizabeth into the Mediterranean Sea.
However, the programme, one of the most complicated engineering schemes in the world involving collaboration between the US, Britain, Japan and other global partners - has been blighted by problems.
Plans to equip the jets with 'important weapons', including the integration of UK-developed missiles, and to assure the MoD that the aircraft retains its stealth capabilities, have been pushed back until the 2030s, the NAO warned.
The full delivery of the first batch of 48 aircraft is also behind schedule due to a combination of financial pressures and problems relating to the global programme.
It's meant the scheme is around two years behind schedule, with full operating capability expected to be achieved at the end of the year.
Concerns have also been raised over the poor availability of the aircraft, which has resulted in fewer flying hours for pilots.
In its report, the NAO warned costs for the project would likely continue to skyrocket, pushing the MoD further into a multi-billion pound financial black hole that has put a strain on spending for years.
'The MoD has spent £11 billion to date on its F-35 programme – more than it has reported, and more than it anticipated it would spend at the time of the 2013 business case,' the spending watchdog said.
'The NAO has also estimated the whole-life cost of the programme to the UK to be £71billion – considerably higher than the £18.76 billion the MoD has publicly reported.'
The F-35Bs, built by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, are prized for their short take-off and vertical landing capability.
Britain has already lost one of its jets after it plunged into the sea in the Mediterranean during an accident on HMS Queen Elizabeth's deployment to the Far East in 2021.
Queen Elizabeth's sister ship HMS Prince of Wales is currently on her maiden voyage to the region, having departed with the UK carrier strike group in April.
The formation of warships, which includes a British Type 45 destroyer, Type 23 frigate, and support vessels - which includes foreign warships and reportedly an American submarine - is currently training with Japan's Self-Defence Forces and the US military until August 12.
The deployment, dubbed 'Operation Highmast', is aimed at demonstrating Britain's commitment to security in the Indo-Pacific and its ability to operate alongside allies in the region.
