British stealth fighter jet stranded in India for over a week
A Royal Navy F-35B Lightning, the world's most advanced and expensive fighter jet, made an emergency landing on June 14.
The fifth-generation stealth fighter, part of the HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group, was carrying out military drills with the Indian navy earlier in the week.
The Telegraph understands that the aircraft was unable to return to the carrier due to poor weather conditions.
The pilot issued a distress signal at around 9pm local time last Saturday, triggering a full emergency protocol at Thiruvananthapuram airport, India media reported.
Flight-tracking data showed the US-designed aircraft landing safely half an hour later at the airport, which is Kerala's second busiest. According to Indian media reports, it then suffered a hydraulic failure.
'It was undertaking routine flying outside [the] Indian Air Defence Identification Zone with Thiruvananthapuram [airport] earmarked as the emergency recovery airfield,' India's air force said in a statement.
A maintenance team from the HMS Prince of Wales later arrived, but was unable to repair the F-35B's issue. A larger team from the UK is expected to travel to Kerala to assist in the technical work.
For now, the jet, which has sparked a wave of interest inside India, remains parked in the open at the airport under the protection of local authorities, with British personnel overseeing its recovery.
It is not yet known how long it will take until the aircraft is operational again, defence sources said.
Images taken at the airport over the past week show the slick grey fighter jet parked in an isolated bay with a small number of armed guards stationed around it. Questions have been raised as to how secure the prized military asset is, after an image emerged of just one Indian soldier in a high-visibility jacket standing in front of the jet, holding a gun.
However, the Royal Navy reportedly rejected Air India's offer to allocate hangar space to the aircraft due to concerns that other people could access and assess the advanced technologies on the jet.
If the second attempt to repair the jet fails, defence sources told ANI news agency that plans were in place to transport the fighter back to its home base aboard a military cargo aircraft.
The F-35 Lightning is Britain's front-line stealth fighter that forms part of the core offensive capabilities of the Royal Navy.
The single-seat, single-engine supersonic jet is considered to have the advanced computer and networking capabilities of any aircraft in the sky, along with stealth capabilities designed to evade enemy radars.
Built by American aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, the multi-role fighter has a top speed of 1,200mph – or 1.6 times the speed of sound.
India's air force does not have any F-35s and instead operates French-made Rafales as well as squadrons of mainly Russian and former Soviet aircraft.
The country is looking to expand its fighter fleet. The US is considering formally offering F-35s to India, but the country is concerned about the model's steep cost, heavy maintenance and operational issues.
The Royal Navy's Operation Highmast is an eight-month deployment led by the HMS Prince of Wales strike group and includes exercises with allies in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Indo-Pacific regions.
The carrier group's next planned port calls are Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Australia
The UK Ministry of Defence has been reached for comment.
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