New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI): Seven foreign nations will participate in the second edition of Exercise Tarang Shakti at the Jodhpur Air Force Station from September 26 to October 12, with the US multi-role stealth fighter jet F-35 taking part in the multilateral air exercise for the first time, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said on Tuesday.
The seven foreign nations are the US, France, Germany, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the UAE.
India would showcase Rafale, Mirage-2000, Jaguar, Tejas, MiG-29 and Su-30 MKI, among other air assets, during the exercise, aiming to exhibit the country’s defence prowess and provide a platform to foster inter-operability, the IAF said in a briefing.
A senior official said about 60-80 assets of the IAF will be part of the exercise, including static displays.
Among the foreign air assets, US stealth fighter F-35, France’s Rafale, UAE’s F-16 and Bangladesh’s C-130J will display “high-octane joint tactical manoeuvres” over two weeks at the Jodhpur Air Force Station, the IAF said.
Though F-35 had taken part in Aero India 2025, it would be on display at Exercise Tarang Shakti for the first time, officials said.
The mega exercise will take place soon after the Veer Guardian exercise — a bilateral exercise between the air forces of India and Japan being held at the same venue from September 9-22.
The maiden edition of the exercise was held in 2024 in two phases — at Sulur, Tamil Nadu, and Jodhpur — in which fighter aircraft from the UK, Germany and France, among other nations, took part.
At the briefing on Tuesday, senior IAF officials made a presentation on the exercise. Later, Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit briefed and interacted with mediapersons.
“The scale and operational output of Tarang Shakti 2024 was significant. Across the two phases, 11 countries participated with their air assets, with 45 aircraft undertaking 76 missions, generating more than 800 sorties and over a thousand flying hours,” he said.
“This year, invitations have been sent to 65 friendly foreign countries,” Dixit said.
Asked if ongoing geopolitical issues played a role in lesser number of foreign nations participating this time, he said every exercise the IAF undertakes has it’s own construct, and the current geopolitical issues are not a factor.
Dixit was also asked if invitations were sent to Russia, Israel or any other country in West Asia, besides the UAE.
Without giving a specific response, he said each exercise has a different construct, and IAF conducts bilateral exercise with many countries already.
He also shared details of air assets of the participating countries. “The composition itself tells the story. We have F-35s, F-16s, Rafales, A400ms, MRTTs, KC135s and other specialised platforms,” the air marshal said.
Besides, there will be some nations which will participate as observer countries.
Dixit said an air chief or equivalent of 10 countries are expected to take part in the exercise.
Further, Indian Air Force Day on October 8 will be commemorated through special engagements, officials said. PTI KND ARB
ARB
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/VRYY5FF3VNBV7MWRXDGSC35NWE.jpg)
