British F-35B Fighter Jet Makes Emergency Landing In Japan, Several Flights Delayed

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Almost a month after Royal Navy F-35 fighter jet flew back from Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala to return hom , another British F-35 stealth fighter jet made an emergency landing Sunday at Kagoshima airport in southwestern Japan due to a malfunction, reported Kyodo News.

The report added that following the emergency landing of the British F-35 stealth fighter jet, several departures and arrivals of commercial flights at the airport were affected.

Also Read | Kerala airport to charge THIS amount for parking stranded British F-35 jet

Also, the runway was closed for around 20 minutes at around 1:30 am (local time). No injuries were reported in the incident.

The report mentioned that from 4 August, British forces have been conducting a joint drill with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and US forces.

Previous incident:

On 14 June, a Royal Navy F-35 fighter jet was diverted at the Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala due to a midair emergency and subsequently developed serious engineering issues.

Also Read | British Navy's F-35 fighter aircraft departs after 39 days of emergency landing

The F-35 fighter jet was diverted from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales due to bad weather and low fuel. It reported a hydraulic failure. British engineers arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram airport to fix the fault, which included landing gear, brakes and control surfaces issues.

Its prolonged stay sparked a flood of memes on social media and it was grounded for weeks.

Built by Lockheed Martin, the F-35B is considered as one of the most advanced and expensive fighter jets in the world. It costs over $115 million each and designed for short take-offs and vertical landings.

Spain rules out buying F-35:

Another report by Reuters said that Spain is no longer considering the option of buying U.S.-made F-35 fighter jet . It is choosing between European-made Eurofighter and the so-called Future Combat Air System (FCAS), Reuters quoted a defence ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Also Read | Kerala uses stranded British F-35 stealth fighter to promote tourism

The spokesperson confirmed an earlier report by El Pais newspaper which said that the government had shelved plans to buy the F-35, which is manufactured by U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.

The report added that though the Spanish government earmarked 6.25 billion euros ($7.24 billion) in its 2023 budget to buy new fighter jets, but now plan to spend most of the additional 10.5 billion euros for defence this year in Europe made it impossible to acquire the U.S.-made fighter jets.

With agency inputs.

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