US F-35 fighters to debut in Indian multinational air exercise

NEW DELHI — The U.S. Air Force’s F-35 fighter jets are joining a multinational air exercise hosted by India, bringing a fifth-generation fighter to Indian air drills for the first time and giving the Indian Air Force and other participants direct exposure to operating alongside an advanced stealth aircraft.

The drills get underway Saturday at the Jodhpur air base in Rajasthan state, which lies about 200 kilometers from India’s border with Pakistan. Eight countries are participating and 32 more are attending as observers.

India does not have a fifth-generation fighter aircraft. It will deploy its major fighters such as Rafales, Su-30MKIs, Tejas and the Mirage 2000 in the combat drills. France is bringing Rafale jets and the United Arab Emirates is bringing F-16s.

At a time when India’s rival China is rapidly expanding its fleet of fifth-generation fighters, the exercise could give the Indian Air Force a first-hand experience of tactical missions with advanced stealth aircraft and gain insight into how such jets can integrate sensor data, operate as part of a networked force and complicate detection by adversary radars.

Indian vice chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, said as the character of warfare changes, the drills, named “Tarang Shakti,” will help participants prepare for the challenges “of tomorrow.”

“We do not conduct Tarang Shakti to demonstrate what we already know. We conduct it to discover what we still need to learn,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “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.”

The participation of F-35 stealth fighters in the Indian drills also underscores that New Delhi’s and Washington’s defense ties remain on a steady keel, despite their broader relationship coming under some strain over trade disputes and India’s purchases of Russian oil.

While the U.S. stealth fighter has twice featured at defense exhibitions in India and the Indian Air Force operated alongside F-35s during joint exercises in Australia two years ago, the upcoming drill marks the first time the aircraft will undertake tactical missions with Indian fighters from an Indian airbase.

Dixit said the air force also wants to use the air exercises to test lessons learned during India’s brief conflict with Pakistan in May last year in which both countries deployed fighter jets.

Besides the United States, France and UAE, other countries bringing air assets like surveillance and transport aircraft are Germany, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Greece.

The drills are being held soon after India held bilateral air exercises with Japan in which Tokyo deployed its fighter aircraft, the Mitsubishi F-2A fighter aircraft in India for the first time. That exercise, held Sept. 9-22, was seen as a signal of growing defense ties between New Delhi and Tokyo amid an assertive China in the Indo-Pacific.

“Our partnership has progressed beyond simply conducting exercises together to refining our tactical capabilities at a practical level,” Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Takehiro Morita said Sept. 20 in Jodhpur where the drill was conducted.

The multinational air drill starting Saturday will conclude on Oct. 12.