The multinational exercise will be held in Jodhpur from September 26 to October 12, with F-35s, F-16s, Rafales, Su-30 MKIs and Tejas among the participating aircraft.
Air chiefs or equivalent from 10 countries are expected to attend, while Bangladesh will also participate in the drills.
The IAF says the exercise will focus on operational learning, interoperability, intelligence-led operations and strengthening partnerships.
Tarang Shakti 2026: IAF To Exercise With F-35s For First Time, 10 Air Chiefs To Attend
The second edition of Exercise Tarang Shakti will bring together advanced fighter jets and air forces from multiple countries, with the IAF set to exercise with US F-35s for the first time
Summary
The Indian Air Force will exercise with the US Air Force’s F-35 fighter jets for the first time during the second edition of Exercise Tarang Shakti, which is scheduled to begin in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, from September 26 to October 12, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit said on Tuesday.
The multinational air exercise will bring together several advanced combat and support aircraft, including F-35s, F-16s, French Rafales, Indian Su-30 MKIs and Tejas fighters.
The participating assets will also include five A400M transport aircraft, two A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft and C-130 transport aircraft.
“For the first time, we are going to exercise with the F-35. It is coming. It has come to India earlier. It was part of Aero India, and then it got stuck in Trivandrum,” Dixit said while briefing the media in Delhi on September 22.
He added that operational details of the F-35’s participation would be kept under wraps due to operational security considerations.
Dixit said air chiefs or their equivalents from 10 countries are also expected to attend the exercise, while Bangladesh will participate in the multinational drills.
Tarang Shakti Builds On 2024 Exercise
The second edition of Tarang Shakti is being positioned by the IAF as an expansion of the experience gained during the inaugural exercise in 2024, which brought multiple foreign air forces together in a single exercise.
“Tarang Shakti changed that approach,” the Vice Chief said, noting that the 2024 edition involved 11 countries with their air assets. A total of 45 aircraft undertook 76 missions, generating 867 sorties and more than 1,180 flying hours across the two phases.
The exercise covered counter-air operations, air defence, close combat, reconnaissance, airlift and air-to-air refuelling, among other complex mission sets.
65 Countries Invited For 2026 Exercise
For Tarang Shakti 2026, invitations have been sent to 65 friendly foreign countries. Dixit said the focus would not merely be on the number of participating countries or aircraft, but on enabling personnel from different air forces to plan, operate and train together.
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He said recent conflicts, including Operation Sindoor, had highlighted the importance of intelligence-led operations, precision strikes, integrated air and missile defence, counter-drone capabilities, information dominance, space-enabled capabilities and joint operations across domains.
“We do not conduct Tarang Shakti to demonstrate what we already know. We conduct it to discover what we still need to learn,” Dixit said.
Focus On Interoperability And Indigenous Capabilities
The exercise will also provide an opportunity for foreign partners to observe India’s growing indigenous aerospace and defence capabilities, including aircraft, sensors, weapons and unmanned systems.
Dixit said the IAF’s objectives for Tarang Shakti 2026 were operational learning, greater interoperability and stronger partnerships. The exercise will also test how different air assets and forces can operate together in complex, multi-domain scenarios.
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