Yet Another British Emergency Landing Continues to Harm the F-35’s Reputation
North America, Western Europe and Oceania , Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft
A British Royal Air Force F-35B made an emergency landing at Kagoshima Airport in southern Japan on August 9, with the Japanese Ministry of Defence confirming that it landed due to “an aircraft malfunction” and had been operating from the Royal Navy’s troubled aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. The incident closely follows the forced landing of a British F-35B at Thiruvananthapuram Airport in southern India on June 14, which resulted in the aircraft being grounded for 39 days as efforts to make it airworthy continued to fall short. The two incidents have generated significant bad press for the F-35, which has been much maligned for over a decade for its deficiencies in reliability and low available rates. The protracted grounding in India drew significant ridicule from netizens and media outlets in the country, and was considered to have further undermined the attraction of the aircraft at a time when the United States had intensified efforts to market the fighter to the country.
In late July the Indian government was reported to have informed U.S. officials that it was not interested in procuring the F-35 fighter, with a deterioration in relations between Washington and Delhi subsequently leading the Indian Defence Ministry to cancel plans to procure American P-8I anti-submarine warfare aircraft. It remains uncertain whether the problematic F-35 deployments by the British Armed Forces will be interpreted as a result of deficiencies with British operations of its aircraft, or whether it will be seen as a result of a deficiency with the F-35 itself. Significant questions have been raised regarding British training standards to fly and maintain the F-35, particularly after one of the fighters crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in November 2021. Questions regarding the F-35’s reliability could undermine future export efforts including to Japan itself, where new orders are reportedly under consideration. Unlike India, however, which continues to remain geopolitically neutral, Japan’s position firmly within the Western sphere of influence prevents it from considering non-Western alternatives to the F-35.
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