00:01Future wars are being war-gamed in the skies of Rajasthan.
00:05Wars being fought today and perhaps wars of the future.
00:09And they will be very different from the traditional employment of air power.
00:13Platforms and technologies are changing in midst of conflict.
00:17Hello and welcome to a special edition of Battlecry.
00:20I'm Gaurav Savant.
00:21Air forces of seven friendly nations, Australia, United States, United Arab Emirates,
00:26France, Germany, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have joined the Indian Air Force for Exercise Tarang Shakti.
00:34More than 30 additional countries are attending Exercise Tarang Shakti as observers.
00:39What's very interesting as part of this edition of Tarang Shakti,
00:44the US fifth generation stealth fighter jet, the F-35A.
00:49These fighter jets are participating in Exercise Tarang Shakti for the first time.
00:54The fifth generation stealth fighters.
00:57The IAF has fielded its entire inventory from the Rafals to the Mirage 2000s.
01:03From the Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft to the Tejas light combat aircraft.
01:07MiG-29 air superiority fighters and Su-30M KIs, the air dominance fighters.
01:12Major combat and military aviation platforms taking part in this exercise from overseas.
01:18They include the F-35 Lightning IIs, the Rafals of the French Air Force, F-16s, A-400M, the Atlas,
01:30four engine turboprop military transport aircraft.
01:34And of course, this aircraft combines the tactical and strategic airlift capabilities.
01:38Then the MRTT, multi-role aerial refueling and transport aircraft.
01:43These have been derived from the Airbus A-330-200.
01:47Warhorse, of course, in different configurations.
01:51The C-130, the C-130J.
01:53Then the KC-30A Hercules.
01:55And this is a specialized multi-role aerial refueling tanker and tactical transport aircraft variant developed again from the iconic
02:03C-130 Hercules platform.
02:05All of these are part of this exercise.
02:09The U.S. Pacific Air Force is participating with six F-35A Lightning IIs assigned to the 13th fighter squadron
02:17at Misawa Air Base in Japan.
02:19The U.S. is also bringing one KC-135R strato tanker assigned to the 909th Air Refueling Squadron again in
02:29Japan.
02:29The exercise is more than just a display of air power, more than just an air show.
02:36The Air Forces are seeing heavy action in different theaters of war and they are conducting combined training.
02:42Their aim is to develop a shared understanding of multilational operations.
02:48Before I get you more on exercise Tarang Shakti, let's listen in to Air Marshal Ashutosh Deekshit, Vice Chief of
02:56Air Staff on these exercises.
03:00Tarang Shakti 26 is the net logical step.
03:04But Tarang Shakti is not an aircraft display alone.
03:07It is about what happens when these aircraft operate together along with those who are behind these machines.
03:17The world around us, as you know, is changing very very rapidly and the character of warfare is changing.
03:25Recent conflicts have demonstrated the importance of precision, speed, integrated air defense, unmanned systems,
03:33economic warfare, information dominance, space-enabled capabilities and the ability to bring all this together in a multi-domain operation.
03:48And joining me now on this special edition of Battle Cry, amongst the finest voices on military aviation, Air Marshal
03:55Anil Chopra, a veteran Miraj,
03:572000 fighter pilot and strategic advisor, Society of Indian Defense Manufacturers, Air Marshal Sanjeev Kapoor, a geopolitical and defense expert.
04:06And of course, my colleague Sandeep Unnithan, again, a keen aviation enthusiast.
04:11Air Marshal Chopra, the Indian Air Force fighters, they've flown both against and alongside US Air Force, including the F
04:19-35s and similar drills overseas.
04:22How is Tarang Shakti different?
04:25Will we learn more about stealth fighter operations in our environment?
04:31Gaurav, always a pleasure to be with you on Battle Cry.
04:34And I must mention that, yes, we have flown against the F-35s, whether it was an exercise pitch black
04:41in Australia or the red flag in the USA.
04:44And we have seen the F-35A fly here in the air show in Aero India last year.
04:51But this is the first time any fifth-generation aircraft of any class is going to take part in an
04:57exercise organized by Indian Air Force on Indian soil.
05:01So this is an area which everybody is looking forward to.
05:04Of course, there will be the F-16s, the Rafals of the French Air Force and UAE.
05:09So you have a large number of other aircraft, including the MTA and the other contenders who are perhaps going
05:19to buy for our MTA projects, et cetera.
05:21But the main thing is that we are going to see how we are going to engage a fifth-generation
05:27aircraft.
05:27We know that across the northern border we have the Chinese already having over 400 fifth-generation aircraft.
05:34Now, whether this aircraft will be using the F-35A, it will be using some kind of Bloomberg's lens to
05:41increase the radar cross-section so that we do not have the real properties of the stealth or how much
05:47of the exercises we will be having total stealth available on the F-35 for particular exercises.
05:54But this exercise is going to see large force engagement.
05:59There will be one-to-one combats.
06:01There will be day and night exercises.
06:04It's a triennial exercise.
06:06Last one held two years back, though it had to be done a year earlier than that.
06:11And this is an exercise with the young pilots, new crew of all the countries are looking forward.
06:17Some of these people have already met them here when they were transiting through Delhi, some of them.
06:23And I find a great amount of excitement, great amount of learning for all these people also, for the administrative
06:29staff to manage a big exercise like this in Jodhpur,
06:32and for the technical people to maintain.
06:34Of course, we have great experience in AeroIndia where maintaining a large number of aeroplanes has been possible.
06:40Though this is very exciting, no doubt, but Air Marshal Kapoor, what do we gain with the F-35's part
06:46of tactical mission flying off an Indian airbase?
06:49Do we learn more about where we stand vis-à-vis a fifth-generation US stealth fighter?
06:56See, good evening to you, Gaurav, and to the fellow panelists, and to Air Marshal Chopra.
07:02It's always a pleasure to be on the show.
07:04The fifth generation, like he just mentioned, are flying for the first time.
07:09It is for the first time the Indian radars, be it the ground radars, be it the airborne radars, be
07:17it our ecosystem, our sensor shooters,
07:20our fourth to four-and-a-half generation fighters, would be flying alongside a fifth generation.
07:26So how does a fifth generation appear in a large force engagement, you know, formation?
07:33How does it operate while operating?
07:35These things would be seen firsthand by our operators.
07:39Of course, they would not transmit the original frequencies or they would be using the radars which are actually not
07:47used in combat.
07:48But not besides.
07:50You remember, I did a program a couple of times with you when an F-35 was struck in Trivandrum.
07:56Yes.
07:57The kind of guarding that was required to be done.
08:00A pilot sat there at all times.
08:03Each and every part of F-35 is a sensor including the surface.
08:09So when our people, when we are developing our own AMCA, when our own engineers, pilots and technicians see this
08:18aircraft close-end,
08:20you know, they would understand what is it all about.
08:24See, in Airwinder, a handful of people get an access.
08:26I don't think so they allow anybody to be in the cockpit, leave aside, going near.
08:30But here, it is operating right from your base.
08:33So Americans have, in my appreciation, a strategy where they want to promote this aircraft before we have taken a
08:41final decision.
08:42So that's why they sent it for an exercise.
08:44Also, like they have an aggressor scorn in US, when we have seen, you know, F-16s fighting against another
08:53F-16.
08:54The Turkish F-16s engage in an actual combat with Greek F-16s.
08:59So, the aggressive force in US has an F-16.
09:05Now, there may be a situation wherein a fifth generation, both like Marshal Chopra said, will be having in no
09:14time, say by next year, our Western adversary and Northern adversary may have a fifth generation fighter.
09:19No, no, but that's very interesting that you mentioned that it will be going up against maybe a Su-30
09:25MKI or a Mirage 2000 or an LCA.
09:28And how are we comparing with our adversaries getting the FGFAs?
09:32Sandeep, can we look at these exercises as capability demonstration by the US when it comes to the F-35s
09:39or the French when it comes to Rafals?
09:42Is there a sales pitch in this? Because India is now focusing on own AMCA while we go in for
09:49additional referrals?
09:51Well, Gaurav, there's no doubt about it. This is one of the most concerted US pushes to get India interested
09:57in the F-35 fifth generation stealth aircraft.
10:01Now, the offer was made by President Donald Trump to Prime Minister Modi at the White House in February of
10:072025.
10:09But a lot of water has flown down the Ganges and the Potomac since then. India-US ties in October
10:162026 are not what they were.
10:18That's a very interesting point that you bring. Given the way warfare is changing, you need to have your own
10:24manufacturing bases.
10:26The wars are no longer short, sharp and sweet.
10:29They could go on for years and years as we're seeing in most of the battle theatres where you need
10:34your own fighter planes, you need your own fighter jet engines, you need your own manufacturing capabilities.
10:39Perhaps that's a debate for another time. I want to thank Air Marshal Chopra, Air Marshal Kapoor and Sandeep Unnithan
10:45for joining me here on this part of Battle Cry
10:48where we talk about Tarang Shakti and what India stands to gain from carrying out an exercise with the US
10:56fifth generation fighter jet and other air forces and their weapons of war.
11:02Many thanks for watching. News and updates continue on India Today. Stay with us.
