“Don’t fix something that ain’t broken,” goes an old saying. But sometimes, to fix something, it has to be taken apart — and that’s exactly the situation with the British Royal Navy’s F-35B stealth jet, grounded at Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram International Airport since June 14.
The advanced fifth-generation jet, which made an emergency landing due to a technical glitch, might now have to be partially dismantled and airlifted back to the United Kingdom in a military cargo aircraft. Sources indicate multiple attempts to repair the jet on-site have failed, leaving no option but to break it down for transport.
Initially exposed to Kerala’s monsoon weather and under CISF security watch, the aircraft was eventually moved indoors after the British Navy initially declined Air India’s offer to house the jet in its hangar.
With the fault still unresolved and no take-off in sight, British officials are planning to fly the aircraft back — not under its own power, but inside a military transport aircraft. The most viable option now is to partially dismantle the fighter jet for airlift.
Defence expert Sandeep Unnithan explained that the UK is likely to use a C-17 Globemaster III — a heavy-lift military transport aircraft also used by the US and Indian Air Forces. The C-17 has a cargo hold long enough (26 metres) but only 4 metres wide, meaning the 11-metre-wide F-35B won’t fit unless its wings are removed.
Unnithan noted that while the C-17 can technically carry nearly two F-35s in terms of weight, the challenge lies in their dimensions. Removing the wings of a stealth aircraft like the F-35B is a highly complex task due to its integrated sensors, electronics, and stealth coatings, but there seems to be no alternative.
This won’t be the first time an F-35 has been dismantled for transport. In May 2019, the US Air Force removed the wings of an F-35A at Eglin Air Force Base to airlift it to Hill Air Force Base, where it was converted into a battle-damage repair trainer.
More recently, in South Korea in 2025, a Republic of Korea Air Force F-35A — which had suffered a belly landing in 2022 — was disassembled and transported by road from Seosan to Cheongju Air Base to be used as a maintenance trainer.
So, what dismantling an F-35B really means in this case is carefully removing its wings and packaging it into a compact unit that can be rolled into the belly of a C-17 aircraft — a painstaking process but one grounded firmly in past precedent.
And meanwhile, the jet has become something of a social media sensation. Even Kerala Tourism joined the fun with a post: “Kerala, the destination you’ll never want to leave. #F35 #Trivandrum #KeralaTourism.”
