Cruel summer for the F-35 as another forced to make emergency landing

For the second time in his Operation Highmast Implementation, the HMS flagship from Royal Navy Prince of Wales Saw one of the advanced short start vertical landing (StOVL) fighter aircraft forced to make an emergency landing at a civil airport in a distant country. At least on Sunday, the F-35B Lightning II (designated the “Lightning” in the British service) is in a country that actually operates the aircraft, which can help relieve some of the security problems that took place when the other Lightning II was based in India for more than a month.

During a joint air exercise with the Japanese self-defense forces of the air, the F-35B was forced to distract to the airport of Kagoshima in southwestern Japan after experiencing a flee failure. It was able to land without an important incident, but closes a runway for about 20 minutes short and delayed various commercial flights.

According to multiple reports, the problem is small and probably does not require a special team to be flown out for the UK and the US, which had been needed with the F-35B was forced to distract To the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala, India.

Let the spot go

The Royal Navy Warship, which leads the International Carrier Strike Group 2025 (CSG25), was intended to show the dedication of the UK to the Indo-Pacific. It is only the second time this century that a British aircraft carrier has sailed to the region, according to that of HMS queen Elizabeth in 2021.

But instead of being a chance to show the flag, it is marred and is now largely overshadowed by the two incidents. Although small, without victims and no loss of aircraft, it offered an opportunity for Russian and Chinese analysts and military experts to weigh, especially on state and social media.

Wang Ya’nan, editor -in -chief of Aerospace Knowledge Magazine, established in Beijing, told the Global Times That the UK “is struggling to offer adequate maintenance support” for the fifth generation of Stealth Fighter.

The criticism of social media was even more direct; With Sputnik India Writing on X That HMS Prince of Wales “collected emergency landings such as souvenirs”, while @Insidehindustan offered”World’s best jet … really?”

Dr. Cliff Lampe, professor of information and associated dean for academic affairs in the school of information at the University of Michigan, suggested that this comment should not be taken so seriously.

“Because social media enables everyone to post everything – especially now that social media companies have left the regulation of content on their platforms – we can see an increase in these kinds of efforts. People can have multiple motivations for sharing spot, wrong information, anger or any content it is, and financial motivations are certainly part of that, Lampe said in e -mail. “It is not clear how much coordination there is in those messages, but coordination is certainly possible.”

Another war war

The comments also recently accused Beijing of Distribute wrong information Over his Dassault Rafale after the border flare between India and Pakistan in May. At least one of the French Rafales of the Indian Air Force was shot by a PL-15 Air-Air rocket made by Chinese, and New Delhi has recognized it The possibilities underestimated From the rocket that was fired by a Pakistani J-15 fighter jet.

Chinese officials, however, used the incident on Badmouth de Rafale, and commentators supported by the state were vocal on Chinese social media, who also cast shadow on the Dassault Omnirole Fighter. Beijing has not so subtly encouraged his open-source analysts to share their thoughts.

Last November the Chinese social media were mainly critical of the Russian SU-57 (NATO reporting name Felon) when the plane arrived before the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition.

It is therefore not surprising that there is now criticism aimed at the F-35.

“Helaas zijn negatieve PR-cycli zoals deze in de huidige hyper-verbonden media-omgeving bijna onvermijdelijk voor high-profile verdedigingsprogramma’s. Een enkel incident kan wereldwijd binnen enkele uren worden versterkt, vooral wanneer het met vlaggenschipactiva zoals de F-35 en de geopolitieke rivalen in New York-universiteit en een globale merken en een globale merken en een globale branden en een globale branden en een globale merken And a global burning and a global brands and a global brands and a global brands and a global brands and a global, graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

The Chinese and Russian spot also lacks the originality of that of the Kerala Tourism Boardwho shared a statue of the F-35 generated by AI as a tourist who gave the region five stars and suggests: “Kerala is such a great place that I don’t want to leave.”

What does it mean for Lockheed Martin?

This is also only the last one in “Bad Press” for the F-35, after the announcement that NATO ally of Spain and Neutral Switzerland both have announced a decision to look at other options next to Lightning II. Lockheed Martin also had to overcome the return after an F-35 Crashed in California Last month near Naval Air Station Lemoore and Van Eelson Air Force Base, Alaska, at the end of January.

“For Lockheed Martin, the most important factors here are track record, transparency and customer confidence,” suggested Gianchandani. “Although repeated incidents can cause perception challenges successively, the F-35 program is deeply anchored over allied forces, with considerably sunken costs, interoperability benefits and invested political capital. That makes it more resilient for the short-term diaries than a consumer-oriented brand.”

Getting that F-35B back in the air in Japan, or at least on the wearer, will be a good step in the right direction.

“Lockheed can endure the storm,” added Gianchandani. “But success depends on the management of the cultural and geopolitical story as much as the technical solution, to ensure that they are seen as operational deviations instead of systemic issues.”