Bangladesh to join multinational air exercise in India

Bangladesh will participate in a multinational air exercise hosted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in India with a C-130J transport aircraft.

Codenamed "Tarang Shakti-26", the exercise will be held in Jodhpur from 26 September to 12 October, with around 40 countries expected to participate.

The exercise will bring together advanced combat aircraft, including US F-35s, French Rafales and UAE F-16s, alongside transport and other air assets.

Participating air forces will conduct joint aerial operations, tactical training and interoperability drills, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, vice chief of the Indian Air Staff, said at a press conference in New Delhi on 22 September.

India, Australia, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, the UAE and the US will participate with aircraft in the second edition of the exercise.

The participating forces will train in tactical operations in a contemporary battlespace, Dixit said.

The first edition of Tarang Shakti was held in August-September 2024, with 11 countries taking part.

"For many years, IAF's operational engagement with foreign air forces was largely confined to bilateral exercises," Dixit said.

"But Tarang Shakti changed that approach. In 2024, we brought multiple air forces together for the first time in a large multinational air exercise hosted by the Indian Air Force."

The first edition featured 45 aircraft, which conducted 76 missions, generated 867 sorties and logged more than 1,180 flying hours.

The missions covered a range of air operations, including counter-air, air defence, close combat, reconnaissance, airlift and air-to-air refuelling, as well as other complex mission sets, Dixit said.

"For the Indian Air Force, it was an important transition from exercises that were primarily bilateral to planning, operating and integrating with multiple air forces simultaneously," he said.

"So Tarang Shakti-26 is the next logical step," he added.

India will deploy Rafale, Mirage-2000, Jaguar, Tejas, MiG-29 and Su-30MKI fighter aircraft for the exercise.

The US will deploy F-35s, France Rafales, the UAE F-16s and Bangladesh a C-130J, along with other air assets, according to Dixit.

The exercise will focus on tactical operations against modern air-to-air and surface-to-air weapons, while also seeking to enhance interoperability among participating air forces and identify best practices in air operations.

The drills will include beyond-visual-range and within-visual-range combat missions, air mobility operations and dynamic targeting.

Air-to-air refuelling and combat search-and-rescue operations will also be conducted during the exercise.

Dixit said the global security environment is changing rapidly and the nature of warfare is evolving.

Recent conflicts have highlighted the growing importance of precision, integrated air defence, unmanned systems, information dominance and space-based capabilities, as well as the ability to integrate these elements into multidomain operations, he said.