The incident highlights how quickly the strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific is changing.
Just 32 years and a month ago, a British Harrier was involved in one of the most bizarre situations in the history of military aviation when it landed in a container on the deck of the Spanish cargo ship Alraigo. The Harrier had taken off from the British aircraft carrier Illustrius (Illustrious, although its crew had given it the less glorious nickname of Lusty), and its pilot, Lieutenant Ian Watson, alias 'Soapy' (which can mean anything from 'cheeky' to 'slippery', passing through 'suck-up'), had never participated in NATO maneuvers, so he got lost.
When he was about to run out of fuel, he spotted the Alraigo. And, since the British-designed and manufactured Harrier was the only one in the world capable of vertical takeoff and landing, 'Soapy' was able to land it with the bow in a container and the tail on the deck of the merchant ship. A timely white van, owned by a florist, traveling on deck, stopped the plane's tail and prevented it from sliding into the Atlantic. Thus, 'Soapy' saved the Harrier, and eventually retired from the British Navy 13 years later with the rank of corvette captain.
Today, the Harrier is almost retired from active service, except for a few in the US Marines and the Navies of Spain and Italy. Its replacement is not British, but American. It is the F-35B. But this vertical takeoff and landing aircraft - now 'invisible' to radar - has inherited something from its illustrious predecessor, as seen in the surreal spectacle that one of them, also assigned to the British Navy, is starring at the commercial airport of Trivandrum, in the Indian state of Kerala, since June 14.
No one knows for sure how the plane got there. No one knows what's wrong with it, except that it can't fly. The British and Americans are so protective of the aircraft's technological secrets that they do not allow any Indian citizens near it, and have even rejected Delhi's offer to transport it to an Air India hangar, where suspicious operatives who could be spies come and go. The result is that the F-35 has been left out in the open, miserably getting soaked in the monsoon downpours, against a backdrop of commercial jets. Meanwhile, the people of Kerala have turned it into an endless source of memes. Even the state's Tourism Office has created an image of the plane with the title UK F-35 and the caption "Kerala is such an amazing place that I don't want to leave. I definitely recommend it."
Meanwhile, India, always so hypersensitive about its 'strategic autonomy' and its equidistance from major powers, has not objected to the aircraft only being touched by Anglo-Saxon hands. Certainly, neither Washington nor London want Delhi near the plane, as India has the Russian S-400 air defense system, which theoretically, when connected to the F-35, 'steals' technological secrets. That is why Turkey, a NATO ally, was excluded from the F-35 Program when it bought those missiles. Although, judging by how the F-35I - a special version made for Israel - has 'flattened' Iran's air defense, which also relies on the S-400, it seems that the concern is unnecessary.
What is clear is that the British Navy's F-35B has not had the glorious future of its Israeli counterparts or the Americans who thundered through the Washington sky on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. - local time - to commemorate Donald Trump's signing of his 'Great and Beautiful Law' on July 4.
But the fact that the F-35 has ended up in Trivandrum is only half the problem. The other half is that there is no human way to get it out of there. British and American teams of mechanics and engineers have gone to examine the aircraft, which is guarded by six soldiers of Her Gracious Majesty who stoically endure the monsoon storms. But the 95 million euro beast remains immobile. It is so content in Kerala that the British and Americans have finally agreed to have it moved to a protected hangar to see if, in dry conditions, they can figure out what's wrong.
The magnitude of the mechanical problem is such that the possibility of removing its wings and loading it onto a C-17 or C-5 transport plane and taking it to the UK is gaining traction. But that in itself is extremely complicated. The F-35 is so secretive that only someone with the highest authorization to handle state secrets in the UK and the US can, for example, loosen a screw. Now, let's see how many people need to be sent to dismantle the wings.
This is how one of the units of the world's most sophisticated aircraft, a true flying computer that constantly updates its software and that countries like Canada fear the US, which manufactures most of the aircraft, could "control" remotely thanks to its 'software', is parked like a car next to a mechanic's workshop due to, apparently, a hydraulic system failure.
For the British Navy and the Labour government of Keir Starmer, the plane that won't start without anyone knowing why is a stain on the honor of the UK. But, jokes aside, the incident starkly highlights how rapidly the strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific is changing, and how this transformation is happening without the knowledge of the public in the region and the West.
Because the opacity of both London and Delhi has been more than notable. The Indian Ministry of Defense confirmed the emergency landing of the F-35B with a brief statement indicating that the aircraft received authorization according to "standard procedures." London simply stated that it was "a technical diversion", and that the aircraft was assigned to the aircraft carrier 'Prince of Wales'. Neither the UK nor India provided further details. The officials at Trivandrum International Airport only said that the fighter jet has a major malfunction.
The local press has been more explicit. According to the Kerala Ommanorama website, the F-35B attempted to land several times on the 'Prince of Wales' deck, but the bad monsoon weather conditions prevented it. Its pilot, whose name has not been made public, found himself in the opposite situation to 'Soapy' in 1983: he had a perfect ship to land on, but he couldn't land on it. So he headed for land. And he arrived in Trivandrum. Outwardly, the aircraft is in perfect condition. There are also no accounts of a difficult landing.
Although it is all due to a technical emergency, the presence of a fifth-generation British fighter jet at an Indian airport is significant. The UK has intensified its presence in the Indo-Pacific after Brexit, as part of its commitment to become a "persistent" player beyond Europe. London has sent ships to the South China Sea, conducted joint maneuvers with Japan and Australia, and sought to deepen its military ties with India. The UK also participates in the AUKUS, which is the nuclear submarine program with Australia and the US, now in danger due to the isolationism of the Donald Trump administration.
The F-35 is a reminder of how the military balance has shifted in a region where local alliances and regional equilibriums once prevailed. And, paradoxically, it is also a demonstration of how the West is trying, at a time when its irreversible decline is being widely discussed, to project its influence in these new areas of fracture in global geopolitical stability.