IAF set to host largest international air exercise ' Tarang Shakti'

The Indian Air Force is set to host its largest international air exercise ever conducted in India, exercise Tarang Shakti, in two phases in August and September at Sulur and Jodhpur, Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal AP Singh said on Wednesday.

Phase one of the exercise will be in Sulur from August 6-14 with Germany, France, Spain and the UK taking part. US, Greece and many other countries will start to exercise the second phase in Jodhpur from September 1-14.

He said that 51 countries have been invited, out of which 10 have confirmed their participation.

"We have confirmation from 10 countries for participation with their assets and 18 countries as observers and one more country is likely to join in so including India, it is likely to become a 30-country exercise," Singh said.

Singh said that this exercise aims to strengthen strategic relations with the international community. Complex missions are planned to enhance the mutual understanding of air operations, and air power application and also practice multiple combat scenarios in a realistic environment.

Talking about observer countries, he said, "There will be 18 countries who will be sending their observers and not their air assets. So we will see assets like F18, EA18, C130 aircraft, F16 aircraft, a 10S, and KC135 along with all the assets of the Indian Air Force taking part in this exercise. Eurofighter, Typhoon and Rafales from other countries also will be taking part. Indian Navy will be participating in phase one with their Mictun NK aircraft."

He added that one of the main objectives of this exercise is to showcase the booming indigenous defence ecosystem in India and also to highlight our Aatmanirbharta and our resolve towards Aatmanirbharta in the flying part.

"Our assets like Tejas, Prachand, Dhruv and Rudra will be taking part actively in the flying part in showcasing our Indigenous products also in line with India's goal to become a developed nation by 2047 and to take our defence cooperation with our friendly neighbours and friendly other countries to a next level," he said.

"We will also utilize this exercise period to showcase our indigenous capabilities in the DRDO, in the defence research as well as defence production by carrying out an industrial defence aviation exposition," Singh said.

Earlier, the Indian Air Force conducted the longest ferry of aircraft to Alaska in the US for Exercise Red Flag. Now it is conducting the first multinational exercise Tarang Shakti in India to be held at Sulur and Jodhpur. Make-in-India equipment including LCA Tejas, LCH Prachand and other weapon systems would be showcased at the exercise.