Two months after a British F-35 fighter made an emergency landing in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram international airport following a technical snag, another one had to make an emergency landing in Japan on Sunday due “malfunction”, according to reports.
The F-35 was performing at a joint drill with Japan and the US when a technical issue forced the advanced fighter to rush to Japan’s Kagoshima Airport. Reports said the Royal Air Force fighter aircraft landed safely at the airport at around 11:30am local time, and imagery shows the aircraft visibly intact. The pilot, too, is safe.
⚡ BREAKING: UK Royal Air Force (RAF) F-35B fighter jet makes emergency landing at Kagoshima airport in Japan due to malfunction.
— OSINT Updates (@OsintUpdates) August 10, 2025
According to the airport office, the fighter pilot had contacted air traffic control in advance, stating that he was experiencing a possible… pic.twitter.com/LpGhvSnmT7
The incident happened barely a month after an F-35 had to make an emergency landing at Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram airport, diverted from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. The fifth-generation stealth jet was stranded in Kerala for almost a month due to a hydraulic failure. British engineers arrived at Kerala to fix the fault. The incident gained widespread attention.
The F-35B are currently deployed to the region with the Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group (CSG) on Operation Highmast. Since its arrival, jets from the CSG have made history by becoming the first British jets in history to land on a Japanese naval vessel.
However, the reports of the F-35’s emergency landing drew the attention of Chinese media, which took a dig at the British Royal Air Force, stating “the UK sailors could be struggling to deal with the F-35s in far seas deployments.”
Stating that the British fighter jet that became a subject of jokes and memes after being stranded in an Indian airport for more than five weeks, the state-backed ‘Global Times’ mocked the operational capability of the UK Navy. “From a technical point of view, the operational capabilities of the UK's navy are no longer what they once were, and the recent malfunction incidents should serve as an opportunity for the UK to reconsider its policy of accommodating US interests,” Global Times quoted Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine.
However, many feel the recent emergency landing looked like a simple affair, rather than the one that happened in India. Many also ruled out the possibility of the jet getting stranded in India since the CSG is expected to remain in Japan, and the repair crew, equipment, and other facilities can be shipped easier to the airport.
