The Royal Navy’s F-35B stealth jet being moved after weeks at Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram airport
The Royal Navy’s advanced F-35B stealth fighter jet, which remained parked for over three weeks at Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala due to a technical snag, has now been moved to a hangar. British engineers have been stationed at the site, attempting to diagnose and repair the issue that grounded the $110 million jet.
A new team of engineers arrived recently aboard an Airbus A400M Atlas to determine whether the aircraft can be repaired locally or must be disassembled and flown back to the United Kingdom. If dismantling is the only solution, the jet could be transported in a C-17 Globemaster military cargo plane.
The F-35B, part of the Royal Navy’s elite arsenal, is among the costliest fighter jets ever built in terms of development and production. It carries highly classified stealth technology that must be guarded closely, particularly during repairs or transport.
The British military has previous experience in dismantling and airlifting the F-35. In May 2019, an F-35 Lightning II was successfully transported from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, using a C-17 aircraft—marking the first time an F-35 wing was removed for shipment. That operation was the result of a $200,000, four-year project.
Because of the jet’s stealth features, every step in dismantling and moving the aircraft must be logged and verified. “Every screw has to be security-coded,” officials note, to mitigate any risk of a data breach. The loss or leak of stealth technology would pose significant diplomatic and military risks, making tight security paramount.
