The Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) will fly Exercise Veer Guardian 2026 at Air Force Station Jodhpur from 9 to 22 September 2026. The IAF fields a mix of its frontline fighters — the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, the Su-30MKI and the Rafale; the JASDF brings its F-2A fighters. Over 14 days the two air forces will fly advanced operational missions and hold mission-planning conferences, subject-matter-expert exchanges and engineering and aerospace-safety interactions.
An air exercise is a good exam topic precisely because it sits on top of a lot of settled fact: what was flown, where the first edition was, why Japan's military is called a self-defence force, and which other exercises the two countries run. Take those in turn.
The first edition, and what changed
Veer Guardian began as a Japan-hosted exercise. The inaugural edition ran at Hyakuri Air Base from 12 to 26 January 2023 — the first-ever fighter exercise between the two air forces. The IAF sent Su-30MKIs, supported by an IL-78 tanker and two C-17 Globemaster transports; the JASDF flew F-2s and F-15s. The 16 days covered air-combat manoeuvring, interception and air-defence missions in both visual and beyond-visual-range settings.
The 2026 edition turns the arrangement around. It is the first Veer Guardian in India, the first in which the Tejas and the Rafale fly alongside Japanese fighters, and it is set in the Thar Desert — Jodhpur is one of the IAF's most active fighter bases, close to the western border and to the Pokhran ranges. Exercises of this kind are built on dissimilar air combat training: each side learns how an unfamiliar aircraft turns, accelerates and fights, which is knowledge that no simulator supplies.
Why Japan calls it a Self-Defense Force
Japan's post-war Constitution of 1947 contains Article 9, in which the country renounces war as a sovereign right and the maintenance of war potential. The compromise that followed was the Self-Defense Forces, created in 1954 with three branches — the Ground Self-Defense Force, the Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Air Self-Defense Force — under what became a full Ministry of Defense in 2007. Legislation in 2015 allowed limited collective self-defence, and Japan's 2022 security strategy set a course to raise defence spending towards 2% of GDP. The notes on the world wars explain the 1945 settlement from which this structure comes; it is why Japan's partners exercise with a "JASDF" and not a "Japanese Air Force".
The F-2 and India's three
The Mitsubishi F-2 is a Japanese development of the American F-16, built jointly by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin, with a larger wing and — a first for any operational fighter — an active electronically scanned array radar when it entered service in 2000. About 90 were built; the F-2A is the single-seat version.
Against it, the IAF's three types span its whole modernisation story. The Tejas, designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and built by HAL, is the indigenous single-engine fighter now being delivered in its Mk1A form. The Su-30MKI, a Russian twin-engine heavy fighter licence-built by HAL at Nashik, is the backbone of the fleet. The Rafale, from France's Dassault, arrived in 2020 under a 36-aircraft contract and is based at Ambala and Hasimara. Flying all three with a foreign air force is as much a statement about the IAF's mix as about the partnership.
The exercise family
| Exercise | Services | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Malabar | Navies of India, the US, Japan, Australia | Began 1992 as India–US; Japan a permanent member since 2015; Australia rejoined 2020 — the Quad at sea |
| JIMEX | Indian Navy – JMSDF | Bilateral maritime exercise since 2012 |
| Dharma Guardian | Indian Army – JGSDF | Annual since 2018; alternates between India and Japan |
| Shinyuu Maitri | IAF – JASDF (transport) | Airlift and tactical interoperability; the 2019 edition in India was the first JASDF deployment to India |
| Sahyog Kaijin | Indian Coast Guard – Japan Coast Guard | Search-and-rescue and pollution response |
| Veer Guardian | IAF – JASDF (fighters) | 2023 Hyakuri; 2026 Jodhpur |
The pattern — one exercise per service plus a coast-guard one plus the Quad's Malabar — is the shape of a mature defence partnership, and it is the matching-list question setters like.
The partnership behind the exercise
India and Japan have described their relationship as a Special Strategic and Global Partnership since 2014. A ministerial 2+2 dialogue (foreign and defence ministers) began in November 2019. On 10 September 2020 the two signed the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) — formally the Agreement concerning Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services — which lets each side's forces use the other's bases, fuel and logistics; Japan was the sixth country with which India had such a pact, after the United States, France, Singapore, South Korea and Australia. Both are members of the Quad, and Japan is a source of infrastructure finance across India's Northeast and of the Mumbai–Ahmedabad bullet train. Veer Guardian is the air-power expression of all of that.
The same-day defence diary
Three other Ministry of Defence releases on 8 September belong in the same notebook:
- IAF Dronathon 2026, at the Pokhran range, Jaisalmer, from 14 to 16 September: domestic manufacturers demonstrate unmanned aerial systems and counter-UAS — surveillance and reconnaissance, autonomous operations, swarm technology and electronic warfare — with static displays and live demonstrations to assess combat effectiveness.
- Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan visits Australia and New Zealand from 9 September. The Australian leg follows the third India–Australia Annual Summit (July 2026) and the second Defence Ministers' Dialogue (June 2026); the New Zealand leg follows the Prime Minister's July 2026 visit, when the relationship was raised to a Strategic Partnership, and a new Maritime Cooperation Arrangement.
- The inaugural India–Morocco Joint Defence Committee met in New Delhi, co-chaired by Joint Secretary (International Cooperation) Amitabh Prasad and Brigadier General Abdellah Athmani of the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces. It flows from the defence cooperation MoU signed during the Raksha Mantri's visit to Morocco in September 2025; ties reach their 70th anniversary in 2027.
For the wider map of who India exercises with, the NDA study material hub carries the defence GK notes that this piece assumes.
🔑 Revision block
The exercise. Veer Guardian 2026, IAF–JASDF, AFS Jodhpur, 9–22 September 2026; IAF Tejas, Su-30MKI, Rafale; JASDF F-2A; first edition in India. First edition. Hyakuri Air Base, Japan, 12–26 January 2023; Su-30MKI + IL-78 + 2 C-17 against F-2 and F-15. Japan's forces. Article 9 (1947); SDF from 1954 — JGSDF, JMSDF, JASDF; Ministry of Defense 2007; collective self-defence law 2015. F-2. Mitsubishi–Lockheed Martin, F-16-derived, in service 2000, first operational fighter with an AESA radar. Exercise family. Malabar (Quad navies), JIMEX (navies, 2012), Dharma Guardian (armies, 2018), Shinyuu Maitri (air transport), Sahyog Kaijin (coast guards), Veer Guardian (fighters, 2023). Framework. Special Strategic and Global Partnership 2014; 2+2 since November 2019; ACSA 10 September 2020 — Japan India's sixth logistics-pact partner. Same day. Dronathon 2026, Pokhran, 14–16 September (UAS and counter-UAS, swarms); CNS to Australia and New Zealand from 9 September; first India–Morocco Joint Defence Committee (MoU September 2025; 70 years in 2027).
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. Exercise Veer Guardian is conducted between the Indian Air Force and the air force of: (a) South Korea (b) Japan (c) Australia (d) France → (b).
Q2. Veer Guardian 2026 is being held at: (a) Hyakuri (b) Ambala (c) Jodhpur (d) Kalaikunda → (c) — 9 to 22 September 2026.
Q3. The Japanese fighter participating in Veer Guardian 2026 is the: (a) F-15J (b) F-35A (c) F-2A (d) Mitsubishi X-2 → (c).
Q4. The first edition of Veer Guardian, in January 2023, was held at: (a) Jodhpur (b) Hyakuri Air Base, Japan (c) Misawa, Japan (d) Iruma, Japan → (b).
Q5. Japan's Self-Defense Forces were created in: (a) 1947 (b) 1954 (c) 1960 (d) 2007 → (b).
Q6. Dharma Guardian is an exercise between the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force and the: (a) Indian Navy (b) Indian Coast Guard (c) Indian Army (d) Indian Air Force → (c).
Q7. JIMEX is a bilateral exercise of the: (a) air forces (b) navies (c) armies (d) special forces → (b) — since 2012.
Q8. India and Japan signed the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement in: (a) 2014 (b) 2018 (c) 2020 (d) 2023 → (c) — 10 September 2020.
Q9. The Mitsubishi F-2 is a development of the: (a) F-15 Eagle (b) F-16 Fighting Falcon (c) F/A-18 Hornet (d) Mirage 2000 → (b).
Q10. IAF Dronathon 2026 will be held at: (a) Jodhpur (b) Pokhran (c) Bengaluru (d) Agra → (b) — 14 to 16 September.
Q11. India's relationship with Japan has been designated a Special Strategic and Global Partnership since: (a) 2007 (b) 2011 (c) 2014 (d) 2019 → (c).
Q12. Consider the following: 1. Japan became a permanent participant in Exercise Malabar in 2015. 2. The Rafale is licence-built by HAL at Nashik. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both (d) Neither → (a) — HAL Nashik builds the Su-30MKI; the Rafale is built by Dassault in France.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Exercise questions take three shapes. The pairing item — match the exercise name to the partner country or the service, with Dharma Guardian, JIMEX and Veer Guardian offered together. The venue item — where an edition was held, with the previous edition's venue as the distractor. The aircraft item — which types took part, or which company builds a named fighter.
The fresh 2026 hook is the first Veer Guardian in India, at Jodhpur, with Tejas and Rafale flying against the F-2A; expect it alongside the Dronathon at Pokhran in a "which of the following events was held in Rajasthan in September 2026" question. We describe the recurring pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for NDA? Exercises, aircraft and agreements are the highest-yield defence GK there is. Start with our NDA study material hub, follow the daily NDA current affairs, and train with our ex-officer faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col Vijyanat Thakur — Defence & security faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Defence, 8 September 2026 (Veer Guardian, Dronathon, CNS visit and India–Morocco JDC releases). Exercise history, aircraft and agreement details cross-verified with PIB archives and independent sources.