F35, Rafale among 80 aircraft to take part in IAF’s Tarang Shakti

More than 80 Indian and foreign aircraft, including fighters ranging from the F-35 to the locally produced Tejas light combat aircraft, will participate in Tarang Shakti, the Indian Air Force’s largest multilateral air combat exercise that begins in Jodhpur on Saturday, officials aware of the matter said on the eve of the two-week-long air drills.

The exercise will involve around 1,500 personnel, including air crews, technicians and ground staff, the officials said on Friday. Eight air forces are participating with their air assets, including the US, France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The 32 observers include Brazil, Egypt, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.

French ambassador to India Thierry Mathou said, “Exercises such as Tarang Shakti pave the way for greater Indo-French operational coordination and military interoperability. France’s involvement in this exercise illustrates our shared commitment to ensuring regional and global security and upholding international law and freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region, in which France is a resident power.”

The French Air and Space Force is conducting its seventh long-range air projection exercise, Mission Pégase, from September 8 to October 2026, with the aim of demonstrating the core capabilities of the force – rapidly projecting long-range air power anywhere in the world and defending France’s overseas territories or strategic interests, a French statement said. During this mission, the force is taking part in Tarang Shakti.

Lieutenant General Dominique Tardif, Vice Chief of the French Air and Space Force, and Head of Mission Pégase Major General Julien Sabéné will also hold discussions with Indian armed forces authorities, the statement added.

The foreign aircraft taking part in the drills include F-35s, F-16s, Rafales, A400Ms, A330 MRTT (multi-role tanker transport) KC-135s, C-130s, and other specialised platforms. These will operate alongside the IAF’s Sukhoi-30s, Rafales. Jaguars, Mirage-2000s, MiG-29s, LCA Mk-1s, Mi-35s, Mi-17s and IL-78 refuellers. This is the first time F-35 fifth-generation fighters are taking part in an exercise in the country—the US is bringing six such stealth aircraft to Jodhpur.

Tarang Shakti will feature visual-range and beyond-visual-range combat missions, force engagements involving high-value aerial assets, air mobility operations and dynamic targeting, air-to-air refuelling, and combat search and rescue missions.

“We do not conduct Tarang Shakti to demonstrate what we already know. We conduct it to discover what we still need to learn. Our operational experience, including Operation Sindoor, gives us lessons. Our partners bring their own operational experience. Bringing these together in a realistic training environment allows us to test assumptions, challenge procedures, understand different methods of employing air power and improve interoperability,” IAF vice chief Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit earlier said.