CSG25 - Marham Jets

[POL]

/034 diverted to F35 at Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala, India - VOTV) overnight. Reported locally due to either a “fuel issue” or a “technical emergency”.

[Evergreen 44]

Good Evening,
Has anyone heard any more on progress for this one please ?
Last we heard the maintenance crew from the PoW could not fix it after three attempts at getting away
If the offer of hangarage has been refused and it is sat exposed to the elements with a problem complex enough likely to need proper workshop facilities it will surely need a field recovery team to dis-assemble it
The F-35B 35 foot wingspan is wider than the capacity for any cargo aircraft
I would have expected the recovery to have been completed somehow by now given the sensitivity of the technology involved
Even road transport to a nearby port would be practical given the airfield location
Regards,
Paul

Update Saturday : A working party (presumably from the UK) will conduct the necessary maintenance under cover with a view to flying the a/c out

[Philwinward]

According to the Hindustan News the aircraft is due to be moved into a maintenance hangar awaiting a specialist team from the U.K. to disassemble it for transport back by air as cargo. They say this info comes from Indian Government but has not been confirmed !

[RubyRoo]

Not true - the aim is still to fly it out if possible. Disassembly will be an absolute last resort.

https://x.com/NavyLookout/status/1940803807891349873

[Evergreen 44]

Good Evening,
Twitter post yesterday had a photo of an RAF A400 arriving in India with a maintenance party for the F-35 re-work
On closer inspection it was ZM417
Adsb showed it tracking as RRR4164 Brize (Friday 4th) Akrotiri (5th) Muscat by 6th, guessing it made the hop to India then as back home same routing via Nice to Brize this morning as RRR4165
Regards,
Paul

[Philwinward]

If it’s necessary to return this airframe to the U.K. as cargo on a C-17, I wonder if Marham is capable of handling the necessary repairs? I realise that it is all speculation but could it find its way back to L.M. In the states ?

[Starbuck]

If it’s necessary to return this airframe to the U.K. as cargo on a C-17, I wonder if Marham is capable of handling the necessary repairs? I realise that it is all speculation but could it find its way back to L.M. In the states ?

It's probably got a better chance given all the kit in various hangars and BAE/LM maint hangar too then what was taken on the A400 out to India, both the ship and the transports can only carry so much.

LM do send engineers to Marham quite often too.

[Evergreen 44]

Surely Cameri would be the heavy maintenance option for European jets if Marham did not have the set-up required
Given the saga so far I am sure there will be a push to fly it back to Marham under it's own power to demonstrate enough resilience with the type and engineering support required