Expert team may reach Kerala by this weekend to repair grounded F-35B of the U.K.
According to sources, the team will primarily explore three possibilities as part of repairing the aircraft and taking it back to the active service of the RAF. They include fixing the engineering issues of the aircraft at the place where it is stationed now (bay number four of the domestic terminal of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport), towing it to the hangar facility of the airport or, as the last option, dismantling some parts of it here and airlifting them back to the U.K. or to the U.S. where the manufacturer Lockheed Martin is based. Only after an inspection of the aircraft by the expert team, a final call on these will be taken, said the sources.
The expert team is expected to comprise members from Lockheed Martin apart from engineers from the U.K. At present, the aircraft is guarded by the RAF crew round the clock.
Topic of discussion in the House of Commons of the U.K
The grounding of the F-35B in Kerala has become a topic of discussion in the House of Commons of the U.K., with Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative MP for Huntingdon, raising the issue on June 30. Minister for the Armed Forces Luke Pollard then responded that though grounded, the aircraft remains under close U.K. control, with the RAF personnel guarding it round the clock, while emphasising that the security of the jet is in good hands because the RAF crew are with it at all times.
The aircraft has remained grounded at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport since June 14 after it made an emergency landing. Though the emergency landing was made following adverse weather conditions in the Indian Ocean, the aircraft couldn't take off from here as serious engineering issues developed. The U.K. authorities are of the view that the fighter jet would be taken back to the active service of the RAF once the maintenance and repair of the aircraft are completed in Kerala, along with the mandatory safety checks.
The aircraft was reportedly part of a joint naval drill conducted by the Indian Navy and the United Kingdom's Carrier Strike Group (UK CSG25) in the western Arabian Sea in June.
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