Sources in India’s defence ministry on Friday said the British F-35B fighter jet which had made an unscheduled stop at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala because of low fuel and a suspected hydraulic failure could be transported back to its base via a military transport aircraft.

The fifth-generation stealth F-35B Lightning II, one of the world’s most expensive and advanced combat aircraft, has remained parked in the open at the airport for the past seven days.

“On Saturday, the F-35 fighter jet of the UK navy had made an emergency landing due to low fuel, after which the Indian Air Force had provided all required support, including refuelling. However, when the aircraft was going back, it developed a hydraulic failure and could not go back,” a source in the defence ministry said.

“A maintenance team of the UK navy had come and tried to rectify the problem, but could not. A bigger maintenance team is expected to come to recover the aircraft. If required, the aircraft may even be taken back in a military transport aircraft.”

Sources said the British navy declined Air India’s offer to allocate hangar space to park the aircraft, possibly because of concerns that it was packed with advanced technologies and they did not want others to take a closer look at it. British aviation engineers have been working intensively to fix the technical snag in the aircraft’s hydraulic systems.

The single-seater, single-engine fighter jet is part of the UK’s HMS Prince of Wales carrier strike group, currently deployed in the Indo-Pacific region. The carrier group
recently completed joint maritime exercises with the Indian Navy.

The aircraft made an emergency landing around 9.30pm on Saturday because of fuel shortage and bad weather during a sortie over the Indian Ocean. But later, it was reported that the aircraft was also facing serious technical issues and was diverted to Kerala because of a suspected hydraulic system failure.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has been guarding the aircraft since then.

Earlier, the Indian Air Force had said: “A normal occurrence of diversion by F-35. The IAF is fully aware and has facilitated the aircraft for flight safety reasons. All assistance is being given and the IAF is in coordination with all agencies.”