A British technical team is set to conduct repairs on a Royal Navy F-35 fighter jet currently stationed at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport following a mechanical malfunction. A joint team of British and American experts is expected to arrive in the city for the purpose.
Five British personnel arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday to assess the technical issues in the aircraft. Pilot Freddy and two technicians, who had been present earlier, returned to the UK on Friday after preliminary assessments. The newly arrived British officials have now assumed responsibility for the aircraft and will carry out further inspections in the coming days.
CISF secures British Royal Navy F-35B jet after emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram Airport. pic.twitter.com/gTMR4sCuMS
— Tar21Operator (@Tar21Operator) June 17, 2025
Based on their findings, a larger 30-member technical team will be deployed to Thiruvananthapuram. This team will be fully equipped to carry out extensive checks on the F-35 and facilitate its return to Britain. It is also reported that technical experts from Lockheed Martin, the American manufacturer of the F-35, will join the team.
The F-35 has remained exposed in the open, under heavy monsoon rains, for the past six days as efforts continue to resolve its technical issues. However, the British authorities have declined the Indian Air Force’s offer to shift the aircraft to a nearby hangar for repairs. Citing concerns about confidentiality, the British team has insisted that the F-35, a fifth-generation stealth combat aircraft, should not be taken to any facility under another country’s jurisdiction.
The fifth-generation stealth F-35B fighter jet, operating from an aircraft carrier of the UK in the Indian Ocean, which made an emergency landing at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport in Kerala after running low on fuel on Saturday night. pic.twitter.com/iNfmKRtrJX
— Rajat Pandit (@IamRajat_Pandit) June 15, 2025
Similarly, a proposal by the IAF to construct a temporary shed around the aircraft for protection during the repair process was also turned down. Sources suggest that the British team’s refusals stem from a desire to prevent any possibility, however minor, of sensitive construction or operational technologies of the F-35 being leaked.
The aircraft is currently secured within the CISF perimeter at Bay No. 4 of the Thiruvananthapuram airport.The F-35 had originally taken off from the Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, which was stationed in the Arabian Sea for joint military exercises. It was forced to make an emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport last Saturday night due to a reported fuel shortage.
