F-35 Stealth Jets Make Their Indian Combat-Drill Debut as 40 Nations Join Tarang Shakti in Jodhpur

40 Countries, One Desert Airbase

The Indian Air Force's second edition of Exercise Tarang Shakti began Saturday, September 26, 2026, at Air Force Station Jodhpur in Rajasthan, according to the Indian Air Force and multiple outlets including ETV Bharat and Swarajya. The exercise runs through October 12.

Eight foreign air forces are flying their own aircraft into the drills: the United States, France, Germany, Greece, the UAE, Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, according to Hindustan Times. Another 32 countries are attending as observers, per ETV Bharat and connectgujarat, bringing the total participating nations to roughly 40. More than 80 Indian and foreign aircraft are taking part, according to the Times of India.

The F-35's First Indian Flight

The headline attraction is the U.S. Air Force's F-35A, appearing in a tactical exercise on Indian soil for the first time, according to Hindustan Times. The jet previously showed up at the Aero India air show in Bengaluru in 2023 and 2025, but this is its first operational drill in the country.

U.S. Ambassador Sergio Gor posted on X that six F-35 Lightning IIs and more than 200 airmen arrived in Jodhpur, calling it the jets' "Tarang Shakti debut." Eurasian Times reported the same figure, six F-35As alongside two KC-135 tankers. Swarajya, however, reported the U.S. would send "two to three F-35 jets," a lower figure that conflicts with the ambassador's own count and with the other reporting.

France's contingent is flying in under Mission PÉGASE 26, its seventh long-range air power projection exercise, according to The Print. That mission, running from September 8 to October 15, covers a 40,000-kilometer route with nine stopovers from the Arctic through the Middle East, Pacific and East Asia to India. France's Tarang Shakti window runs September 28 to October 12, per the French embassy statement cited by The Print, which also reported four Rafale F4s, three A330 MRTT tankers and two A400M Atlas transports, plus roughly 300 aircrew. Other reporting, including Eurasian Times and Times of India, put the French Rafale count at seven.

Julien Sabéné, deputy commander of France's Air Defence and Air Operations Command, told ANI, as quoted by Swarajya, "This exercise is quite important for us. We will have a total of seven Rafales with us to work side by side with the Indian Air Force." Asked about India's plan to buy 114 Rafale jets, he said, "India is a sovereign country. We are so happy they are buying from the French Air and Space Force."

The UAE is fielding six F-16s and a Global 6000, Germany and Australia are sending A400M and C-130 transports respectively, Bangladesh a C-130J, and Sri Lanka a King Air 350 surveillance aircraft, according to Eurasian Times. The IAF's own lineup includes Rafale, Su-30MKI, Tejas, Mirage-2000, Jaguar and MiG-29 fighters plus AWACS and refueling tankers.

Bigger Than 2024, But Compressed

Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, told a press conference, as reported by Eurasian Times, that the first Tarang Shakti in 2024 involved 11 countries, 45 aircraft, 76 missions, 867 sorties and more than 1,180 flying hours across two phases at Sulur and Jodhpur. This year's edition consolidates everything into one phase at Jodhpur, and Dixit said invitations went out to 65 friendly nations. Group Captain T Deswal, the exercise director, called it the largest multinational air exercise ever held in Asia, per Eurasian Times.

French Ambassador Thierry Mathou framed the drills in strategic terms, telling reporters, as quoted by both Times of India and The Print, that regular bilateral exercises like Varuna, Garuda and Shakti, combined with multinational drills like Tarang Shakti, are building "greater Indo-French operational coordination and military interoperability" and reflect "shared commitment" to freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific, where France describes itself as a resident power.

The China Backdrop

Hindustan Times noted that speeding up India's own fifth-generation fighter program, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, is urgent because China has already deployed its J-20 stealth fighter, is rolling out the J-35, and has tested two sixth-generation prototype platforms designated J-36 and J-50. President Trump said last year the U.S. was paving the way for India to acquire F-35s, but Hindustan Times reported the IAF has not received a formal sales proposal. Russia has separately offered to jointly produce its Su-57 stealth fighter in India, the outlet reported, giving New Delhi three competing paths to fifth-generation capability, none of which has been finalized.

With the exercise scheduled to run for another two and a half weeks, the open question is whether any of the F-35 diplomacy translates into an actual acquisition deal, or whether India's indigenous AMCA and the Russian Su-57 offer end up the more concrete options once the jets leave Jodhpur's skies.