Sending a squadron abroad to exercise is a logistical achievement. Persuading seven air forces to bring their front-line aircraft to your base, on your schedule, into your airspace, is a different order of thing — and it is what the second edition of Tarang Shakti is actually demonstrating.
The Indian Air Force commenced the operational phase of Exercise Tarang Shakti 2026 at Air Force Station Jodhpur on 27 September 2026, following the inaugural ceremony the previous day. The exercise runs from 26 September to 12 October 2026 under the theme "Power in Partnership".
Seven Friendly Foreign Countries are participating with assets: Australia, the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Several other countries are attending as observers.
The aircraft, and why the list is the story
The foreign aircraft taking part include the F-35 Lightning II, Rafale, F-16, A400M, MRTT, C-130, C-130J and KC-30A.
Read that list in two halves.
The combat aircraft are the headline. The F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation fighter — the defining features of the generation being low observability (stealth), sensor fusion that merges radar, electro-optical and electronic-warfare inputs into a single picture for the pilot, and networked data sharing. The IAF operates fourth-generation and 4.5-generation aircraft: the Su-30 MKI, the Rafale, the Mirage 2000, the MiG-29 and the indigenous Tejas. Flying alongside a fifth-generation aircraft in a structured exercise is how an air force learns what such a platform can and cannot do — and, more usefully, how difficult it is to detect and engage.
The support aircraft matter more than they look. The A400M and the C-130J are tactical airlifters; the MRTT (Multi-Role Tanker Transport) and the KC-30A are air-to-air refuelling aircraft. Tankers are the least glamorous and most decisive capability in the list. Combat radius is set by fuel, and a tanker converts a short-legged fighter into a long-range one. Practising air-to-air refuelling with another country's tanker — matching probe-and-drogue or boom systems, procedures, radio discipline and join-up geometry — is precisely the kind of interoperability that cannot be improvised in a crisis, and it is one of the specific things a multinational exercise buys.
What such an exercise actually trains
The announced emphasis is on advanced joint training, exchange of operational expertise, interoperability, mutual learning, aerospace safety and understanding each other's operating philosophies. The last phrase is the substantive one.
Two air forces flying comparable aircraft may nonetheless fight differently — in how they delegate decisions to the cockpit, how they structure a mission package, how they assess risk, how they brief and debrief. Those differences are institutional rather than technical, and they surface only when crews plan and fly together. The release notes interaction among aircrew, mission planners and operational support personnel, which is the right list: a mission is planned on the ground by people who never take off, and their procedures have to mesh too.
Aerospace safety appearing explicitly is worth noting. Mixing aircraft types, nationalities and procedures in one airspace is the most hazardous thing a peacetime air force does, and the safety architecture — deconfliction, common radio procedures, agreed emergency actions — is itself a deliverable of the exercise rather than a precondition for it.
Hosting versus participating
This is the analytical point that distinguishes Tarang Shakti from the many exercises India takes part in abroad, and it is the better answer in an interview.
India participates in a great many bilateral exercises — we have covered Veer Guardian with Japan and Varuna with France in recent weeks. Sending a contingent to someone else's exercise requires aircraft, crews and a tanker.
Hosting requires something else entirely: ramp space and hangarage for foreign aircraft, fuel of the right specification in quantity, ordnance handling, ranges and airspace cleared for weeks, air traffic and radar services capable of handling a mixed international package, maintenance support, accommodation, medical cover, and the diplomatic and customs machinery to bring foreign military aircraft and armed personnel in and out. It is an infrastructure and staff-work demonstration, and it is not available to most air forces.
The first edition, Tarang Shakti 2024, was India's first and largest multinational air exercise. It ran in two phases — Sulur, Tamil Nadu in early August, and Jodhpur, Rajasthan from late August into September — with around 150 aircraft in total, 51 countries invited, ten participating with assets and eighteen as observers. That India has repeated it on schedule, as a biennial exercise, is the more meaningful fact than any single edition's participant list.
Note also what the guest list says. Australia, the United States and France are strategic partners with whom India exercises across services. Germany's participation reflects European interest in Indo-Pacific engagement. And Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are neighbours whose air forces are far smaller — their inclusion is regional capacity-building and relationship work rather than high-end training, and it signals that India intends the exercise to serve its neighbourhood as well as its major partnerships.
The industrial and the commemorative
This edition carries activities beyond flying: a dedicated seminar, an industrial tour for the foreign contingents, heritage tours, yoga sessions, and the Sekhon Marathon.
The industrial tour is a deliberate piece of defence-export work. India's stated ambition is to sell aerospace and defence equipment abroad, and a visiting air force officer who has seen an Indian production line — having just flown alongside the Tejas — is a better prospect than a brochure. Our explainer on the HAL handover of Tejas trainers covers what that production base now consists of.
The Sekhon Marathon is named for Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, the only Indian Air Force officer to be awarded the Param Vir Chakra. On 14 December 1971, during the Indo-Pakistani war, he took off alone from Srinagar under attack, in a Gnat, and engaged a formation of raiding aircraft before being shot down. The award was posthumous. For an NDA aspirant this is a fact worth holding with certainty: the PVC is India's highest wartime gallantry award, and Sekhon is the IAF's sole recipient.
🔑 Revision block
- Exercise: Tarang Shakti 2026, theme "Power in Partnership"
- Dates and venue: 26 September to 12 October 2026, Air Force Station Jodhpur; operational phase commenced 27 September
- Participating Friendly Foreign Countries (7): Australia, USA, UAE, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh; others as observers
- Foreign aircraft: F-35 Lightning II, Rafale, F-16, A400M, MRTT, C-130, C-130J, KC-30A
- Inaugural edition: Tarang Shakti 2024 — India's first and largest multinational air exercise; two phases, Sulur (Tamil Nadu) and Jodhpur (Rajasthan); about 150 aircraft; 51 countries invited, 10 with assets, 18 observers
- Cadence: biennial
- Fifth-generation fighter features: low observability (stealth), sensor fusion, networked data sharing — the F-35 is fifth-generation; the IAF operates fourth and 4.5-generation types (Su-30 MKI, Rafale, Mirage 2000, MiG-29, Tejas)
- Air-to-air refuelling aircraft here: MRTT (Multi-Role Tanker Transport) and KC-30A; tankers convert combat radius, and cross-national refuelling cannot be improvised
- Airlifters: A400M, C-130J
- What the exercise trains: advanced joint training, interoperability, mission planning across nations, operating philosophies, and aerospace safety in mixed airspace
- Hosting vs participating: hosting demands ramp space, fuel, ordnance handling, ranges, airspace, radar and ATC for a mixed package, maintenance, and diplomatic and customs clearance — an infrastructure and staff-work demonstration
- Guest-list logic: Australia, USA, France as strategic partners; Germany reflecting European Indo-Pacific interest; Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as neighbourhood capacity-building
- Side activities: seminar, industrial tour (defence-export purpose), heritage tours, yoga, Sekhon Marathon
- Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon: the only IAF officer awarded the Param Vir Chakra, posthumously, for action over Srinagar on 14 December 1971 flying a Gnat
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. Exercise Tarang Shakti 2026 is being conducted at: (a) Sulur (b) Gwalior (c) Jodhpur (d) Pune
→ (c) — the 2024 edition used both Sulur and Jodhpur.
Q2. Tarang Shakti 2024 was significant as India's: (a) First joint exercise with the United States (b) First multinational air exercise (c) First exercise involving the Tejas (d) First tri-service exercise
→ (b) — and its largest international air exercise.
Q3. Which of the following is a fifth-generation fighter participating in Tarang Shakti 2026? (a) Rafale (b) F-16 (c) Su-30 MKI (d) F-35 Lightning II
→ (d) — the Rafale is generally classed 4.5-generation.
Q4. The defining characteristics of a fifth-generation fighter include: (a) Supersonic speed and radar (b) Twin engines and delta wings (c) Low observability, sensor fusion and networked data sharing (d) Vertical take-off capability
→ (c)
Q5. The MRTT and KC-30A participating in the exercise are: (a) Air-to-air refuelling aircraft (b) Airborne early warning aircraft (c) Maritime patrol aircraft (d) Electronic warfare aircraft
→ (a) — the A400M and C-130J are the airlifters.
Q6. Practising air-to-air refuelling with a partner nation's tanker is valuable because: (a) It reduces fuel consumption (b) Probe, boom, procedural and join-up compatibility cannot be improvised in a crisis (c) It is required under international aviation law (d) It allows the tanker to be transferred permanently
→ (b)
Q7. Hosting a multinational air exercise, rather than participating in one abroad, additionally demands: (a) A larger number of combat aircraft (b) Ramp space, fuel, ranges, airspace, ATC and radar for a mixed international package (c) Membership of a military alliance (d) UN Security Council authorisation
→ (b)
Q8. Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon is notable as: (a) The first Indian to fly a jet aircraft (b) The first Chief of the Air Staff (c) The only IAF officer awarded the Param Vir Chakra (d) The first Indian to break the sound barrier
→ (c) — posthumously, for action over Srinagar on 14 December 1971.
Q9. The participation of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the exercise primarily reflects: (a) Their possession of fifth-generation aircraft (b) Regional capacity-building and relationship work in the neighbourhood (c) A formal defence alliance with India (d) A requirement of the exercise's funding
→ (b)
Q10. Consider the following statements: 1. The industrial tour for foreign contingents serves a defence-export purpose. 2. Tarang Shakti is conducted annually. Which is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
→ (a) — it is a biennial exercise, the 2024 edition being the first.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Air exercises are among the most dependable question types in the NDA general ability paper, and Tarang Shakti has the added distinction of being India's own hosted multinational exercise.
The venue question asks where the current edition is held. Jodhpur for 2026; Sulur and Jodhpur for 2024. Air Force stations recur as answers, so a short list of the ones that host exercises — Jodhpur, Sulur, Kalaikunda, Gwalior — is worth keeping.
The pairing question asks which exercise involves which countries. The efficient route is to separate the bilateral air exercises by partner — Veer Guardian with Japan, Cope India with the United States, Garuda with France, Desert Flag hosted by the UAE — from Tarang Shakti, which is multinational and hosted by India.
The generation question asks what makes an aircraft fifth-generation. Stealth, sensor fusion and networking. Candidates often answer "supersonic" or "very fast", which describes nothing after the 1950s.
The gallantry question on Sekhon appears regularly, in the form of asking how many IAF officers have received the Param Vir Chakra, or who the recipient was. One, and Sekhon.
For the SSB interview, the strongest line available here is the hosting argument. A candidate asked why Tarang Shakti matters who answers that participating abroad needs aircraft while hosting needs infrastructure, fuel, ranges, airspace management and staff work — and that this is a capability most air forces do not have — is talking about national capacity rather than repeating a press release. Adding that neighbours were invited alongside major partners shows awareness of what the exercise is for diplomatically as well as militarily.
Preparing for NDA? Exercise questions are cheap marks when learnt by service and partner — and Tarang Shakti is the one to remember as India's own multinational air exercise. Build the base with our NDA general ability notes, follow the daily NDA current affairs, and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Maj Sunil Chopra — Co-founder and defence studies faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk.