A British F-35B stealth fighter jet from the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales was forced to make an emergency landing at Kagoshima International Airport on Sunday after suffering an engineering fault during a sortie in the Indo-Pacific.
The £88 million warplane, one of about 24 embarked on the £3.5 billion carrier, diverted at around 11:30am local time and landed at 2pm, temporarily closing the runway for 20 minutes. Japan’s defence ministry confirmed the landing was due to a malfunction.
It is the second British F-35B to experience a serious issue in recent weeks. In June, another jet diverted to Thiruvananthapuram Airport in Kerala, India, due to bad weather, then suffered a hydraulic fault that left it stranded for over a month. The incident became the subject of viral mockery by Kerala’s tourist board.
The UK’s F-35 programme, costing an estimated £71 billion over its lifetime according to the National Audit Office, has faced delays, high maintenance costs, and availability concerns. Britain currently has 37 jets in service, with a target of 138.
The HMS Prince of Wales strike group is currently on its maiden Indo-Pacific deployment, Operation Highmast, training alongside Japanese and US forces. The carrier is expected to return to the UK in December.
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