F-35B Lightning II fighters are tied down on the deck of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on Aug. 12, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

A British F-35B Lightning II made a precautionary landing in southern Japan this week while en route to a carrier taking part with U.S. and Japanese forces in a multinational exercise, according to Japanese authorities.

The short-takeoff, vertical-landing stealth fighter landed at Kagoshima Airport in Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, at 11:32 a.m. Sunday, an airport spokesman said by phone Tuesday. The Lightning II pilot requested the landing about 15 minutes in advance, the spokesman said.

The runway was closed for about 20 minutes and reopened at noon. Three departing commercial flights were delayed for 25 minutes, and three arrivals were delayed for 20 minutes, the spokesman said.

Tuesday morning the fighter was positioned at one of the airport’s eight taxiways. “We are considering how to move the aircraft,” the spokesman said.

British sailors cluster on the deck of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales next to a helicopter and F-35B fighters at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on Aug. 12, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

An F-35B Lightning II touches down at RAF Marham after being delivered from the Lockheed Martin factory in May 2025. (Nik Howe/Royal Air Force)

The multirole fighter was returning from South Korea to the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales when a problem arose, a spokesman with the Kyushu Defense Bureau said by phone Tuesday. He had no further details on the malfunction.

Some Japanese government officials may speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.

The British Ministry of Defence acknowledged phone and email inquiries from Stars and Stripes on Monday but did not immediately provide responses.

The Prince of Wales and its strike group were participating in a nine-day exercise in the western Pacific alongside the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Australia, Spain and Norway, according to an Aug. 5 news release from the Maritime Self-Defense Force. The exercise was scheduled to conclude Tuesday.

The Prince of Wales arrived Tuesday morning at Yokosuka Naval Base for a port call scheduled through Aug. 28. Its escorts — the Royal Navy guided-missile destroyer HMS Dauntless and the Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen — docked at the nearby Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force base at Yokosuka at the same time.

“The Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, and Aviators that make up the multinational UK Carrier Strike Group are looking forward to time ashore, and to enjoying the sights, culture, and history of Japan,” said Royal Navy Capt. John Cromie, deputy commander of the U.K. Carrier Strike Group 25, in an email Tuesday to Stars and Stripes. Strike group Staff Officer 3 William Atkinson provided Cromie’s statement.

This is the second precautionary landing this summer by an F-35B from the Prince of Wales. A fighter landed June 14 at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in the southern Indian state of Kerala and remained there more than a month before taking off July 22, according to a report from The Associated Press at the time.

A hydraulic issue and problems with the auxiliary power unit were fixed at the Indian airport, the AP reported, citing an airport official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media.

The U.S. Marine Corps also flies F-35Bs. The U.K. has 37 of the fighters in service out of a planned 48, and has so far spent $14.7 billion on the program, according to a July 11 report from the country’s National Audit Office

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force deployed its first three F-35Bs on Thursday at Nyutabaru Air Base in Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu. A fourth was delayed, the Kyushu Defense Bureau spokesman said.

Japan announced plans in December 2018 to acquire 42 F-35Bs and in July 2020 added 63 F-35A models for a total package worth $23 billion.

Stars and Stripes reporter Alex Wilson contributed to this report.