Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2025 to Question 63964 on India: F-35 Aircraft, how many personnel have been required to recover the F-35B from India; and what the cost to the public purse was for removing the wings and flying the plane back to the UK as cargo.

An engineering team of less than ten personnel has deployed from the UK with a spares package. We are developing options for recovering the aircraft with Air-to-Air refuelling support once the repairs are complete. All flights will be taken from the annual budgeted flying hours for the respective fleets and therefore come at no additional cost.