For years, India bought its fighters from Russia and France, and US stealth jets only turned up in Indian skies at air shows. That changes today. Exercise Tarang Shakti 2026 starts at Jodhpur Air Force Station in Rajasthan, and for the first time US F-35 stealth fighters will fly tactical missions with the Indian Air Force from an Indian base.

The F-35s will share the ramp with French Rafales, Emirati F-16s and India's own Su-30MKIs, Tejas and Mirage 2000s. It is India's second multinational air exercise, and the most politically charged one yet: it takes place about 200 km from the Pakistani border, while New Delhi keeps weighing Russian and Western offers for its next fighter.

What Is Actually Flying

Indian officials announced the line-up at a curtain-raiser this week. The host brings the full range of its combat fleet: Su-30MKI, Rafale, Tejas and Mirage 2000, and according to Indian defence outlet BharatShakti also the MiG-29 and Jaguar.

Among the foreign contingents, France is sending Rafales plus A400M transports and A330 tankers. The UAE brings F-16s. Germany, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Greece contribute surveillance and transport aircraft. BharatShakti puts the US detachment at six F-35s supported by two KC-135 tankers. Neither the US Air Force nor the IAF has named the F-35 unit publicly.

Just as important is who is not coming. BharatShakti notes that Russia, China and Saudi Arabia are not taking part.

Why the F-35 Debut Matters

The F-35 is no stranger to India. US Air Force F-35s have flown at the Aero India show in Bengaluru, most memorably in February 2025, when the F-35 and Russia's Su-57 appeared at the same show for the first time. In June 2025 a Royal Navy F-35B made an unplanned stop in Kerala and stayed on the ground at Thiruvananthapuram for five weeks before flying out on 22 July.

Air show flypasts and a stranded jet are not the same as fighting side by side. At Tarang Shakti, IAF crews will plan, brief and fly large-force missions with and against a fifth-generation stealth fighter from their own base. For a service whose frontline is built around Russian and French jets, that is rare first-hand experience of what a low-observable aircraft looks like, and does not look like, on radar.

It also shows how far US-India defence ties have come. In the first edition in 2024, the USAF sent A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, not stealth fighters, to Jodhpur.

From 11 Nations to a Wider Circle

Tarang Shakti began in 2024 as India's first multinational air exercise, held in two phases: at Sulur in Tamil Nadu in August, then at Jodhpur from late August to mid-September. Outlook India reports that 11 countries took part, flying 867 sorties and more than 1,180 flying hours.

The 2026 edition is a single phase at Jodhpur with fewer countries flying, but many more watching: 32 observer nations, and air chiefs or their equivalents from around ten countries expected to attend. The IAF says the focus is on interoperability, intelligence-led operations and lessons from recent conflicts, not on showing off hardware.

Firstpost's Vantage looks at what Tarang Shakti 2026 brings to Jodhpur, and how the Su-30MKI and Rafale match up against the F-35.

For the next two and a half weeks, the skies over the Thar Desert will be busy, and India gets to see up close the jet it has so far only watched from the crowd line.

Sources: Defense News, Outlook India, BharatShakti, Military Watch Magazine, The Aviationist, Wikipedia (Exercise Tarang Shakti), US Air Force / DVIDS