F-35B in Kerala: UK fighter jet stuck in India ready to fly

The F-35B landed in Kerala on 14 June after running into bad weather, then reported a technical snag.

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The F-35B is due to be "pulled back from the hangar today and the departure is scheduled for Tuesday", an airport spokesman told the BBC. "We do not have any technical details," he added.

The F-35B landed on 14 June at Thiruvananthapuram airport in the southern state of Kerala where it was diverted after it ran into bad weather during a sortie in the Indian Ocean. It then developed a technical snag.

Its prolonged presence on Indian soil sparked curiosity and raised questions about how such a modern aircraft could remain stranded in a foreign country for so long.

After the plane, which was part of the fleet of the HMS Prince of Wales, was unable to return, engineers from the Royal Navy's flagship carrier visited it to fix it.