A state-of-the-art Royal Navy stealth fighter worth £80m has been stranded at an airport in southern India for more than 10 days after it was forced to make an emergency landing.
The F-35B Lightning jet encountered bad weather while flying about 100 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala in southern India on 14 June and was unable to return to its aircraft carrier, instead asking for permission to land at Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
The Royal Navy is said to have turned down an offer to move the warplane to a hangar because it does not want the Indians, or potentially a third party, to get a closer look at its “protected technologies”, local broadcaster NDTV quoted anonymous security sources as saying.
The Indian Air Force confirmed that the F-35B, which was conducting sorties in the Indian ocean from aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, had made an emergency landing in Thiruvananthapuram.
The jet was “undertaking routine flying outside of the Indian Air Defence Identification Zone” when it encountered difficulties, the air force said, and Thiruvananthapuram was “earmarked as the emergency recovery field”.
“On having declared a diversion from an emergency, the F-35B was detected and identified by the IAF’s IACCS network and cleared for recovery. The IAF is providing all necessary support for the rectification and subsequent return of the aircraft.”
The Independent understands that a technical issue with the aircraft was identified after it landed at Thiruvananthapuram. The same night it arrived, an AW101 Merlin helicopter from the aircraft carrier arrived in Thiruvananthapuram with technicians to assess the plane, but it was ultimately decided that the fighter could not take off again without the assistance of a specialist team from the UK.
Indian authorities have tasked the Central Industrial Security Force, a branch of the military tasked with guarding key infrastructure, to guard the jet round the clock, which is sitting parked in the open amid monsoon rains near the domestic terminal.
A spokesperson for the British High Commission in Delhi told The Independent: “We are working to repair the UK F-35B at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport as quickly as possible. We thank the Indian Authorities for their continued support.”
The F-35B Lightning, built by the American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, is one of the most advanced fighters in the armouries of Nato states and a few select allies. It is packed with state-of-the-art technology, including sensors, mission systems and stealth features that allow it to operate in hostile environments without being detected.
India does not have its own F-35s, though Donald Trump announced at a news conference earlier this year with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi that he was “paving the way” for India to be allowed to buy the stealth fighters. That was, however, prior to a brief conflict between India and Pakistan in which both countries claimed to have shot down each other’s jets.
“Lightning is a multi-role combat aircraft that can conduct the roles and missions of different aircraft types simultaneously,” according to a Royal Air Force description. “For Lightning, this also includes air-to-air and air-to- surface electronic warfare.”
