F-35 Woes No Longer in Stealth Mode

From the moment a British F-35B made an emergency landing at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport over a month ago, there has been a re-evaluation of the US-made 4.5-generation stealth fighter, and a silent but roiling global upset in the $60.2-billion aerospace and defense industry.

- KAJAL BASU

This aerial sector in the international arms industry is estimated to hit $75.5 billion by 2030—an increase by a quarter from now caused by military aircraft escalating performance by AI-enhanced design and the use of rare, exorbitantly-priced composite materials.

The F-35 is apparently at the very cutting-edge of technology, although its abilities are reportedly, in some fundamental aspects, more manufacturer-driven mystique than real. Nonetheless, it remains the most guarded piloted aerial weapon in existence, its digitalization and technology—all F-35 fuselages are assembled at a facility in California—shrouded in impenetrable American ownership rights. In more ways than one, the jet is treated as an undeclared American national treasure.

And treasure means inaccessibility. This is what happened with the F-35B—the second-generation of F-35s—that plonked down on June 14 at Thiruvananthapuram. Initially, the British refused to let any Indian technician—or security personnel—approach it on the tarmac. This distancing continued for weeks while the southwest monsoon rains pelted down. The $109-million aircraft just stood in the open until July 6 while the UK tried to fathom what had gone wrong, finally zeroing in on hydraulic failure.