A British F-35B fighter jet, which was grounded in Kerala’s capital city of Thiruvananthapuram since June 14 due to a hydraulic system fault is likely to fly back soon.

Latest visuals showed the British Navy aircraft, part of the UK Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. An official confirmation is awaited.

The fighter jet was on out on a routine sortie when it developed a snag and could not land on the ship. The plane reached the Thiruvananthapuram airport, which was designated as the emergency recovery airfield, and requested emergency landing permission.

The Indian Air Force provided all required support and assisted in the process, including in refuelling a technical team of the UK Royal Air Force had arrived to repair it and the 5th generation stealth fighter aircraft was parked at the Bay in the airport for many days. It was later moved to Air india hanger where a team from the UK were brought to repair the fighter jet.

F-35Bs are highly advanced stealth jets, built by Lockheed Martin, and are prized for their short take-off and vertical landing capability.

Images of the “lonely F-35B”, parked on the tarmac and soaked by the Kerala monsoon rains, spawned memes on social media.

The Kerala Tourism Department was the first to share an image of the aircraft on social media X with a humorous caption, “Kerala, the destination you’ll never want to leave”, and this was quickly followed by similar posts from Milma (Kerala’s dairy cooperative), the Kerala Police, the State AIDS Control Society, and several private organisations.