After an emergency landing due to a hydraulic system failure on June 14, 2025, a British F-35B Lightning-II fighter plane, valued at over $100 million, has been stuck at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala, India.
Low fuel, bad weather, and eventually a mechanical breakdown prompted the jet, which was part of ‘Operation High Mast’ in the Indo-Pacific and was operating off of the HMS Prince of Wales, to deviate from its carrier.
Because of the aircraft’s extended exposure at a civilian airport in a non-NATO nation, this incident has raised serious concerns in the UK regarding the security of the aircraft’s delicate stealth technology.
The security of the F-35B is crucial because aircraft has highly classified technologies, such as sophisticated stealth coatings and sensor suites. While the jet is being grounded and protected by both Indian Central Industrial Security Force and British soldiers, British parliamentarians have demanded guarantees that these technologies will not be compromised.
At first, the Royal Navy turned down offers to relocate the aircraft to a hanger because they valued technological preservation over exposure to the elements. Two weeks later, plans were in place to move the jet to a maintenance hangar as soon as a team of UK specialists and their equipment arrived.
A Royal Navy maintenance team responded quickly, but the hydraulic problem has not been fixed, and the jet is still not safe to fly. Plans are in place to either fix the airplane on-site or, if required, use a military transport plane to take it back to the UK or its carrier.
The event highlights the expanding strategic alliance between India and the United Kingdom. The Indian Air Force used its cutting-edge Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) to manage the emergency landing, while Indian authorities offered prompt logistical support.
The grounding underscores the practical challenges of deploying cutting-edge Western military weaponry in the Indo-Pacific and comes as regional tensions, particularly with China, are on the rise. The situation is made more sensitive by India’s status as a neutral partner with defense relations to both Russia and the West.
The F-35B’s presence in India, a non-NATO member, raises special concerns about technology security and international trust, even if comparable events involving modern jets have happened in allied nations.
The high maintenance requirements and numerous critical failures of the F-35 program have drawn criticism. Concerns regarding the jet’s dependability and the difficulties of servicing fifth-generation fighters while deployed abroad are further heightened by this occurrence.
One example of striking a compromise between operational requirement and security risk while deploying advanced assets distant from home is the use of a civilian airport for emergency recovery rather than a military installation.