New Delhi: India’s premier multinational air combat exercise, Tarang Shakti, returns for its second edition at the Jodhpur Air Force Station from September 26 to October 12. Themed “Power in Partnership”, the exercise brings together frontline fighters, transport aircraft and refuelling tankers from multiple air forces for what is being called a showcase of “Precision Power, Air Dominance”.
The Indian Air Force will field its full spread of frontline platforms, including the Rafale, Su-30 MKI, indigenous LCA Tejas, Jaguar, Mirage 2000 and MiG-29, alongside AEW&C surveillance aircraft, transport planes and air-to-air refuelling tankers.
Eight nations are confirmed to bring aircraft and personnel. Australia is sending a single C-130, while Bangladesh is contributing a C-130J. France has the largest visiting fleet, with seven Rafales accompanied by three A400M transports and two MRTT tankers. Germany is bringing two A400Ms, and Sri Lanka is bringing a King Air 350. The UAE is deploying six F-16s along with a Global 6000, and the United States is sending six F-35 stealth fighters plus two KC-135 tankers.
The American F-35 deployment is a headline feature. The mega air exercise comes immediately on the heels of the bilateral Indo-Japan air combat exercise “Veer Guardian”, also hosted at the Jodhpur airbase, and defence sources say hosting a fifth-generation fighter allows the IAF to sharpen network-centric warfare skills and radar-tracking techniques against low-observable aircraft, according to reports.
Beyond the flying contingents, some 30 countries are attending as observers and delegates, a list spanning Latin America (Brazil and Peru), Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania), Europe (Italy, Cyprus and Romania), and a broad swathe of Asia-Pacific and Central Asian nations, including Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, along with New Zealand, Armenia, Cambodia, Ivory Coast, Laos, the Maldives and Oman.
Over 40 countries in total are taking part in the exercise, which India has framed as its premier multinational air event. This builds on the inaugural 2024 edition, which was held in two phases with an estimated 150 aircraft, split roughly 70–80 per phase, making it the largest international air exercise India had hosted at the time. Through the exercise, India also intends to demonstrate the strength of its “Make in India” defence capabilities.
At the 2024 edition’s Jodhpur leg, the defence minister, Rajnath Singh, described Tarang Shakti as a way to build cooperation and mutual trust with friendly countries, a framing likely to be echoed again as the 2026 edition gets underway this week.