Airpower partnerships

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has a long and vast experience in bilateral and multilateral exercises with almost all leading air forces in the world. It earned a formidable reputation in Exercise Cope India 2004 with the US, where the professional skills of our aircrew flying legacy platforms took the most powerful air force by surprise. Since 2001, the IAF has participated in 91 international air exercises, of these, 32 exercises were either held or hosted by it. From a diplomatic perspective, the IAF has many friends in many places, as these exercises have formed unique “air bridges of friendship” bolstering India’s foreign policy and geopolitical connections amongst friendly foreign countries. From a security construct, such initiatives create opportunities for the exchange of contemporary and future relevant employment concepts and operational solutions, through the sharing of best practices. It also ensures the IAF’s contemporary operational capabilities remain honed, and that its doctrine and strategy remain agile and future-relevant. These exercises also highlight the salience of air power as a vital instrument of comprehensive national power, committed to safeguarding its national security and interests.

Interestingly, the first time an air exercise of this scale was held in India was over six decades ago after the 1962 war with China, when the national leadership eschewed from committing IAF’s offensive air power in the debacle. It was an unforgivable strategic mistake paid for in blood, that continues to haunt us even today. According to the US Pentagon, had the IAF been used offensively, it would have made a big difference in the outcome. Sixty three years ago, in the thick of the Cold War era, an appeal by prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru for assistance brought the air forces from the US, the UK, and Australia together for Exercise Shiksha, at the Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal. Though the exercise was kept politically low key, it was a stark reminder of the disastrous consequences of not committing the combat proven air power of a nation in its defence.

India’s complex geography, political and security dynamics present a unique threat paradigm, where the nation is faced with two nuclear-armed adversaries, both with strong air forces. The critical military leverage that India’s asymmetric air power advantage provides in the nation’s conventional deterrence capability, was amply evident in the Doklam and Galwan border standoffs against China, where swift deployment of the IAF prevented further escalation. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), acutely cognisant of this asymmetry, has since stepped up its infrastructure and capacity development in Tibet to counter India’s current operational air power advantage in the high altitudes. Since the Korean War in the 50s, the PLAAF has not taken part in any large-scale air warfare and therefore lacks operational exposure in modern air combat.

To overcome this, the Chinese Air Force first participated in Exercise Peace Mission with Russia under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2007. Since 2013, it has engaged with Pakistan, Turkiye, Malaysia, and Thailand to enhance its professional exposure, and has carried out the 10th iteration of the bilateral Exercise Shaheen with Pakistan in 2023, and the fifth bilateral Exercise Falcon Strike with Thailand in 2024. The PLAAF’s recent concluded exercise with the Egyptian Air Force in early September this year, where, according to reports, “Egypt’s publicly identified dissimilar-combat participants were Dassault Rafale and MiG-29M/M2 fighters, giving Chinese crews exposure to different aircraft designs”, underscores its IAF threat context and concern.

From a macro viewpoint, the many hues of Tarang Shakti make it much more than an ordinary multi-national air exercise. Geopolitically, India has undeniably emerged as a leading power in many ways, making it a desirable strategic partner to train with especially from an air power perspective. Military, the IAF, has earned itself worldwide respect as a professional air force, with a long history of creating strategic outcomes in the larger interest of India’s national security and interest, in wars, conflicts, and operations. Coming at the heels of India’s Operation Sindoor, where the IAF’s escalation-controlled offensive air operations systematically and lethally targeted Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bases, combat assets, weapon systems, sensors, maintenance and support infrastructure, and other military targets across the entire land frontage. It was a masterclass of swift long-range coercive air power employment, precise, graded, and symbolic of what will follow, should Pakistan continue to use terror as a strategic instrument.

Even if one were to only consider even half of the claimed twenty-percent damage caused to the PAF, it was significant enough to seek a ceasefire due to serious concerns regarding the force preservation of its air power. There is no denying the effective role of the air defence (AD) of the IAF and the Indian Army, who synergised their capabilities to defend the Indian airspace and assets on ground, across the entire spectrum of repeated aerial attacks, including missiles and drones. However, it was the unacceptable damage wreaked on the PAF by the IAF which brought Pakistan to the ceasefire table. Unlike most of the contemporary international employment of air power in wars and conflicts across the world, India’s Operation Sindoor stands out with its achievement of a larger national strategic military objective and political outcome. In India’s case, kinetic air power was used punitively in peacetime to send a strong political message that terror acts would incur severe costs and also laid clear red lines, the crossing of which will draw swift military response of force. Pakistan’s aggressive media campaign which initially claimed seven IAF kills proved to be false, and as facts unfolded in the months after, the real extent of the losses borne by the PAF in mere 88 hours highlighted the coercive effects of the use of air power that led to conflict termination. Thus, despite the ongoing turmoil in West Asia, the large participation in Tarang Shakti underscores the IAF’s demonstrated operational credibility, professionalism and leadership role.

The participation of the US F-35 in an Indian setting is equally a learning curve for the United States Air Force (USAF) as much for the IAF. The remarks of Colonel USAF’s Greg Newbech’s quote at the end of the first Cope India exercise in 2004, “What we’ve seen in the last two weeks is the IAF can stand toe-to-toe with the best air force in the world,” definitely continues to resonate, in the background of a possible sales pitch for the stealth fighter. For the Rafales of the French Air and Space Force, the IAF is an old friend with whom it has participated in eight bilateral Garuda Air exercises over the years, besides participating together in multilateral engagements as well. Australia’s participation reinforces the aerial aspects of the larger Indo-Pacific security construct, and as carry forward of its Exercise Pitch Black. The participation of the UAE Air Force with their F-16 fighters in the background of the extensive combat operations it has undertaken in the Iran War is not surprising given India’s offensive air defence performance in Operation Sindoor. Participation of the Sri Lankan and Bangladesh air forces brings in an interesting military-diplomacy dynamic as both these forces have close interactions with the PAF. Germany’s participation reinforces 75 years of diplomatic relations with India and its major push toward defence, trade, and technology integration.

Apart from Jodhpur, several IAF bases formed a part of the aerial battlespace covering more than 45,000 square nautical miles, allowing for multi-mission engagements of very large opposing force packages of up to 154 aircraft. Steeped in realism, the exercise scenarios and settings were created by a core team based on the analyses of contemporary conflicts and impact of technology on concepts of operations and tactics with the IAF’s recent operational experience providing layers of value addition. Especially since “Air warfare no longer remains a contest between fighter aircraft as platforms. The C4I2 networks, long-range precision weapons, drones, integrated air defence systems, satellites, electronic warfare, data links and the kill webs increasingly determine the efficacy of the combat aircraft,” and the exercise included all of it. Mission planning teams from different air forces rubbed shoulders to create realistic set-ups catering to the various platform types, as well as formulate mutually acceptable rules of engagement that balance mission objectives and mission safety. Tarang Shakti is much more than an exercise of professional skills and bonhomie, as it provides strategic opportunities of leveraging air power to bolster the net security of the region. With the ubiquitous salience of aerospace power in future conflicts, security scenarios and equally, in humanitarian and disaster relief situations, the coming together of friendly nations towards a much-needed air power employment creates a game-altering collective regional security and assistance.

Not constrained by geography, the invisible and yet vital vertical domain of air power enables outreach and connects across continental and maritime spaces. It can play a significant out-of-the-box strategic role by exploiting its AF-to-AF connections towards building a deterrent cooperative air power capability in the region, by enhancing and exploiting air power interoperability and inter-usability. With observers from 32 air forces, including neighbours, regional players, and a large representation from the nations of the global south, Tarang Shakti has expanded options for enhancing India’s international politico-diplomatic engagement. Unlike in 1963, when the leading air forces of the time had brought their assets and personnel to train, exercise, and augment the nation’s air defence capability, in Tarang Shakti the leading air forces have come to train and exercise with the IAF.

As the smell of jet fuel lingers in the flightline, Exercise Tarang Shakti 2026 has achieved much. From learning together in realistic operational scenarios to fostering cooperation and friendships, from creating export opportunities for our aeronautical and defence industrial base to potential joint tasks and missions in the future, it has lived up to its motto — “Power in Partnerships”.