A team of British engineers has arrived in southern India to begin repairs on a UK F-35B stealth fighter that has been grounded at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala following an emergency diversion several weeks ago.
According to a statement from the British High Commission, “A UK engineering team has deployed to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to assess and repair the UK F-35B aircraft.”
The aircraft had been kept outside but has now been moved into a hangar within the airport’s Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility.
UPDATE: A team of UK engineers has arrived in India to commence repairs on the UK F35B aircraft. Repairs are underway on the aircraft, which has now been moved to the maintenance hangar. We are grateful for the continued support and collaboration of the Indian authorities. 🇬🇧🤝🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/WD0pmkiLNH
— UK Defence in India🇬🇧🇮🇳 (@UKDefenceIndia) July 7, 2025
“The UK has accepted the offer of a space in the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility,” the spokesperson said, confirming that specialist equipment has arrived with the team to support the movement and repair process.
The incident marks the first known emergency diversion of an F-35B to India. The aircraft, which is capable of short take-off and vertical landing, is believed to have been transiting the region when it encountered technical difficulties requiring an unscheduled landing.
In an official update posted to social media, the UK Defence team in India said: “A team of UK engineers has arrived in India to commence repairs on the UK F-35B aircraft. Repairs are underway on the aircraft, which has now been moved to the maintenance hangar. We are grateful for the continued support and collaboration of the Indian authorities.”
The UK has expressed formal thanks to Indian authorities and airport staff for their assistance in supporting the aircraft and facilitating the repair process. No timeline has been given for the completion of the work, and it remains unclear when the aircraft will be fit to resume flight.
It seems to have taken awhile to get to this stage. I understand the need to plan, gather together the team and equipment to deloy and that will take some time, obviously. However, I do wonder if the ‘just in time’ spares system, which we know has problems, simply isn’t just in time…
Anyway, good to see things moving. Perhaps the plane will be operational to meet up with CSG on the way home..?
Cheers CR
#Day23
#this has been happening for decades with carrier aviation. It’s nothing new. Just another story new to the Internet age.
When they fix send voyager and tank it to DG it can wait there for CSG to come back.
Have the India’s and Russians finish looking over it now 🕵
Looking at that picture, how many C-130Js do we still have?