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A team of British engineers is undertaking repairs on a stranded F-35B fighter jet in India, highlighting international cooperation in maintaining advanced military technology. The 14-member team is working to fix the state-of-the-art jet, which was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala on June 14 due to bad weather experienced during a sortie over the Indian Ocean.
The plane then reported a technical snag and was unable to return to the HMS Prince of Wales, the Royal Navy's flagship carrier. Its prolonged presence on Indian soil has sparked curiosity and raised questions about how such a modern aircraft could remain stranded in a foreign country for so long.
Since the jet's landing, engineers from HMS Prince of Wales had assessed the aircraft, but they were unable to fix it.
On Sunday, the British High Commission said in a statement that a team of engineers from the UK was "deployed to Thiruvananthapuram airport to assess and repair the F-35B aircraft".
It said the team was "carrying specialist equipment necessary for the movement and repair process".
Video footage shared by Indian news agencies ANI and PTI showed a British Royal Air Force Airbus landing at Thiruvananthapuram to drop the team of technical experts.
Videos showed the F-35B being towed away to a hangar - the high commission had earlier said they had "accepted the offer to move the craft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility", but were waiting for equipment to arrive from the UK.
F-35Bs are highly advanced stealth jets, built by Lockheed Martin, and are prized for their short take-off and vertical landing capability.
The $110m (£80m) jet is being guarded around the clock by six officers from the RAF.
The case of the stranded jet has also been raised in the House of Commons.
