New Delhi: The just-concluded Exercise Tarang Shakti and Exercise Yudh Abhyas reflect Indian military’s deepening interoperability with key partner nations and the country’s multi-vector foreign policy, a report has highlighted.
Emphasising that an American fifth-generation fighter flying alongside a Russian-origin jet bears testimony to India’s multi-pronged foreign policy and military engagements, ‘The Diplomat’ report mentioned that the host nation also utilised the opportunity to brief visitors on the outcomes of Operation Sindoor of May 2025, which has generated significant operational lessons for military planners.
Hosted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) from September 26 to October 12 at Jodhpur near India’s western borders, the multinational Tarang Shakti air exercise brought together air forces from seven Friendly Foreign Countries (FFCs), including Australia, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America along with 32 observer nations.
“The real metric of an exercise’s utility is not what the host nation deploys but what partner nations bring in, reflective of the value they see from it. The US fifth-generation F-35 jets exercised over Indian skies for the first time, operating alongside the entire gamut of IAF fighters – the LCA, Rafale, SU-30MKI, Mirage 2000s, MiG-29s, Jaguars, French Rafales and the UAE’s F-16s. These were completed by A-400M and C-130/ C-130J transport aircraft, aerial refueling tankers, G-6000 and other support platforms,” Dinakar Peri wrote in The Diplomat.
Citing a post-exercise data brief, an IAF official told the reporter that Tarang Shakti saw more than 800 sorties and 600 hours flown.
“The US Pacific Air Forces deployed six F-35A Lightning IIs and one KC-135R Stratotanker along with over 200 personnel. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, US Ambassador in India Sergio Gor remarked that their F-35s do not go all over the world and termed their presence at Tarang Shakti as ‘another example of trust’ between the two countries. France, a resident Indian Ocean power, fielded four Rafales, three A330 Phoenix aerial refuellers, two A400M transport aircraft and 300 personnel. This was part of its larger Pegase26 mission that set out on September 8, traveling across the Arctic, Indo-Pacific, Middle East and North Africa. Over 40 days across nine destinations and covering over 40,000 miles, the mission demonstrates its capacity for long-range deployment, sustenance and adaptability,” the report added.
Earlier this month, congratulating the IAF and all organisations and personnel involved in the successful conduct of the exercise at Jodhpur Air Force Station, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh noted that the presence of participating air forces had added significant value to the exercise and expressed hope that the contingents would return with valuable professional insights and a deeper understanding of India’s capabilities and perspectives.
Singh emphasised that the value of the exercise extended beyond the sorties flown and scenarios practised, encompassing the ability to communicate, coordinate and operate effectively with partner forces.
He also highlighted the importance of self-reliance in the defence sector, technological innovation and international partnerships in addressing the evolving challenges of modern warfare.
“Future military power will be defined less by the number of platforms we possess. It will be determined by the speed of sensing, understanding, deciding, and acting,” said Singh, underlining that speed, precision, information and integration had emerged as defining attributes of military capability.
The Defence Minister said that India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had recognised the importance of strengthening national resilience against emerging security challenges and had adopted ‘Atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) in defence as a national policy.
Meanwhile, India-US bilateral Army exercise Yudh Abhyas was conducted from September 15 to 27 and saw 600 personnel from each side exercise at a high-altitude area at Auli in Uttarakhand, followed by long-range firepower drills, including US HIMARS, Indian Pinaka rocket systems, and counter-drone systems in action, at Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan.
With the Indian and Russian Navies holding their annual Indra exercise from October 13 to 18 in Russia’s Vladivostok, the growing list of bilateral exercises showcase the busy calendar of India’s military diplomacy and military-to-military engagements.
–IANS–
