UK not to share repairing details of F-35B grounded in Kerala with India
The UK authorities were confident that the F-35B would be brought back to active service for the Royal Air Force after repairing is complete
Fifteen days after a UK Royal Air Force F-35B stealth fighter jet made an emergency landing at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport in Kerala due to reported technical snags, the UK authorities have decided not to share the repairing and maintenance details with India, reported The Hindu on Monday (June 30).
The report further said the UK authorities were confident that the F-35B would be brought back to active service for the Royal Air Force after completion of repair and maintenance work in Kerala, along with compulsory safety checks.
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‘Flight data removed’
However, the details of the F-35B’s distress signal sent on June 14 when it was flying off the coast of Thiruvananthapuram have been removed from the flight radar data site.
According to the report, the flight tracking site earlier showed that an emergency transponder code issued by an SQUAWK 7700 was issued by an aircraft for 43 seconds around 9 pm off the coast of Thiruvananthapuram on June 14.
The signal indicated that the aircraft was in distress and required urgent attention from the air traffic control at the Thiruvananthapuram airport.
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‘Part of joint naval exercise’
The report stated that Indian authorities have maintained that the F-35B fighter jet was part of a joint naval exercise held by the Indian Navy and the United Kingdom’s Carrier Strike Group (UK CSG25) in the western Arabian Sea on the first of June.
However, although the British High Commission spokesperson had said that once the engineering team from the UK arrives in Kerala, the aircraft would be moved to the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility at the airport, there is still no official announcement as to when the engineering team will arrive from the UK.
The F-35B is considered one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world, boasting a very small radar cross-section that makes it difficult to detect on radar. The concerned version of the F-35 is capable of short take-off and vertical landing. It made an emergency landing at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on June 14.