F-35, Rafale, F-16 in Indian sies: Why 'Exercise Tarang Shakti 2026' is important for IAF

For years, the Indian Air Force (IAF) largely trained with foreign air forces through bilateral exercises, learning to operate with one partner at a time. Tarang Shakti changed that approach by bringing several air forces together, giving the IAF an opportunity to train in a complex multinational environment.

The second edition of Tarang Shakti, scheduled to be held at Jodhpur in Rajasthan from September 26 to October 12, will build on that experience. Invitations have been sent to 65 friendly foreign countries, while seven nations — the US, France, Germany, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the UAE — will participate in the exercise.

"Exercise Tarang Shakti is back.

Exercise Tarang Shakti 2026 returns as India’s premier multinational air exercise, bringing global Air Forces together for high-octane joint tactical maneuvers," a tweet from the IAF had said.

Group Captain T. Deswal, Director Exercise, said Tarang Shakti 2026 would be the largest air exercise in Asia.

For the IAF, the importance of the exercise goes beyond its scale. It comes at a time when the character of warfare is changing rapidly and recent conflicts have highlighted the growing role of precision weapons, integrated defence, unmanned systems, information dominance, space-enabled capabilities and multi-domain operations.

Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit said Operation Sindoor had reinforced several of these lessons for the IAF.

"The world around us, as you know, is changing very rapidly. The character of warfare is evolving. Recent conflicts have demonstrated the importance of precision, integrated defence, unmanned systems, information dominance, space-enabled capabilities, and the ability to bring all of this together in a multi-domain operation," he said, according to news agency ANI.

"Operation Sindoor has reinforced many of these realities for us. It demonstrated the importance of intelligence-led operations, precision, integrated air and missile defence, counter-UAS, and jointness across domains," Dixit added.

Tarang Shakti gives the IAF an opportunity to train for these emerging requirements alongside several foreign air forces at the same time.

The first edition of the exercise in 2024 marked the first time the IAF hosted multiple air forces for a large multinational air exercise. It was conducted in two phases at Sulur in Tamil Nadu and Jodhpur, with fighter aircraft from countries including the UK, Germany and France participating.

"We now want to build on that experience, making Tarang Shakti 26 the next logical step," the Vice Chief said.

A key objective of the exercise is to improve interoperability between the participating forces through joint tactical manoeuvres.

IAF to exercise with F-35 for first time

Another significant aspect for the IAF will be the participation of the US F-35 stealth fighter. While the F-35 has previously been to India, including for Aero India, Tarang Shakti 2026 will mark the first time the IAF exercises with the aircraft.

"For the first time, we are going to exercise with the F-35. It is coming," Dixit said.

The US is expected to participate with two to three F-35 aircraft. France will bring its Rafale fighters, while the UAE will participate with F-16s. Bangladesh's C-130J will also be among the foreign aircraft taking part.

The exercise will also allow the IAF to deploy and train with a broad range of its own combat and support aircraft. India will showcase the Rafale, Mirage 2000, Jaguar, Tejas, MiG-29 and Su-30MKI, among other platforms. Airborne early warning and control aircraft, transport planes and air-to-air refuelling tankers will also participate in the exercise.

The exercise comes immediately after the India-Japan Veer Guardian bilateral air exercise at Jodhpur, which ran from September 9 to 22.