Staff Reporter Daily Dawn + Dawn TV Report
London: A state-of-the-art British F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft has been parked at the international airport in the Indian city of Kerala for the past 10 days.
This fifth-generation stealth fighter jet worth $ 110 million has now become an international diplomatic and military secret and one aspect of this crisis is becoming clear: “The British military is not ready to trust India.”
The story began on June 14, when this British aircraft made an emergency landing at the airport in Thiruvananthapuram, the city of Kerala, India. Initial reports said that the reason was lack of fuel, later British sources said that the aircraft was experiencing a technical fault in the hydraulic system.
The aircraft belongs to the British Navy’s “HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group” and was flying during a joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean. Immediately after landing, the Indian Air Force assisted, even preparing to fly it back. However, a technical fault kept the plane stranded.
Indian authorities offered to move the plane to a secure hangar to protect it from seasonal rains, but the British Royal Navy refused. The reason? Security concerns or, to put it simply, Britain does not trust India.
According to sources, Britain has made it clear that it is not ready to hand over its plane to Indian authorities or technical staff. Not only this, the Bay 4 where the plane is parked is being monitored by the Indian Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), but there is also a constant presence of a British team around it, which does not allow anyone to go near the plane.
A team of British Royal Navy engineers reached Thiruvananthapuram to repair the plane, but they could not immediately resolve the problem. It is now likely that if local repairs fail, the aircraft will be sent back to the UK or to a carrier on a large military transport aircraft.
The F-35B, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, not only has the latest radar-evading (stealth) capabilities, but also features such as short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL). This sensitivity is making Britain wary. Experts believe that Britain does not want a non-NATO country like India to have access to the technology of the F-35. Although India and Britain have a cordial relationship, this incident has once again proven that trust in military matters is still a delicate matter and India is unreliable even for its closest allies.
Leave a Reply