British F-35B Fighter Jet Finally Departs India After Weeks
A British F-35B fighter jet, which had been stranded at Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala, India, for over five weeks, has finally taken off after undergoing extensive repairs. The stealth aircraft, hailed as one of the most advanced in the world, became a subject of international attention and social media humor during its unusually long layover.
The aircraft, valued at around $110 million, was en route as part of operations connected to the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, when it was forced to divert to southern India due to bad weather on 14 June. After landing safely, the jet developed a technical fault that rendered it unable to fly.
Initial attempts by engineers aboard HMS Prince of Wales to fix the issue were unsuccessful. As a result, the UK Ministry of Defence dispatched a team of 14 engineers to the Indian airport on 6 July to assess and carry out the necessary repairs. Their efforts were finally completed earlier this week, allowing the aircraft to resume its journey, now headed to Darwin, Australia.
A spokesperson at Thiruvananthapuram airport confirmed to the BBC that the aircraft had departed and was airborne. While the British High Commission did not provide specific details of the repair, they acknowledged in a public statement that the plane was now “back in active service.”
Though the technical glitch was a routine matter for military aviation, the sight of a high-tech stealth jet parked on the tarmac during the heavy Kerala monsoon quickly caught the public imagination. Photos of the jet drenched in rain circulated widely online, giving rise to a wave of memes and humorous commentary.
One viral post joked that the jet was being sold online for just $4 million, complete with cheeky features like “automatic parking” and an “automatic gun to destroy traffic violators.” Others quipped that the jet had stayed in India long enough to qualify for citizenship, while some suggested that the UK should pay “rent” — perhaps in the form of the long-contested Kohinoor diamond.
Kerala’s tourism department also joined in the fun. In a clever promotional move, it posted an AI-generated image of the F-35B with coconut palms in the backdrop, captioned: “Kerala, the destination you’ll never want to leave.” The image and post quickly gained traction, portraying the jet as just another visitor reluctant to part with the scenic charm of the state often described as “God’s Own Country.”
The story was even mentioned in the UK Parliament, where questions were raised about how such a costly and modern aircraft could remain grounded in a foreign country for such an extended period.
Speculation at one point suggested that if repairs failed, the jet might need to be dismantled and transported via a C-17 Globemaster cargo plane. Fortunately, the engineering team managed to complete on-site repairs, avoiding what would have been a highly complex and costly retrieval operation.
Now that the jet has left, many X (formerly Twitter) users posted farewells, with some writing “Adios” or “Bon Voyage” to the aircraft, joking that it had “enjoyed more than one month of holidays in Kerala.”
While the incident raised logistical and technical questions, it also provided a unique moment of light-hearted cultural exchange between India and the UK — proof that even state-of-the-art military hardware isn’t immune to the charms of monsoon-soaked Kerala or the sharp wit of internet users.
