NEW DELHI: Fighter aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) will operate from Indian soil for the first time this month, with three Mitsubishi F-2 jets slated to arrive at Jodhpur for the second edition of the bilateral air combat exercise Veer Guardian.
It is also learnt that IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh and his Japanese counterpart General Takehiro Morita are both expected at the base during the drill, and are likely to fly sorties. Sources said their interaction will also cover ways to widen the flying engagement between the two air forces beyond set-piece exercises.
The IAF said on Saturday that two JASDF C-2 transport aircraft had touched down at Air Force Station Jodhpur, marking the arrival of the Japanese contingent. The exercise runs from September 9 to 22, with the training centred on air combat manoeuvring. India is fielding its frontline Su-30MKI air dominance fighters along with the homegrown LCA Tejas.
The F-2, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with Lockheed Martin in a roughly 60-40 split, is a Japanese derivative of the American F-16, the same fighter family that Pakistan operates and that the IAF has taken on. Among the PAF bases struck during Operation Sindoor last year was Bholari in Sindh, home to an F-16 squadron and an operational conversion unit, where satellite imagery showed a large hangar breached. That lends the two-week drill an operational value beyond the diplomatic optic
The visiting jets belong to the JASDF’s 8th Air Wing at Tsuiki air base in south-western Japan. Tokyo operates 85 F-2s across three tactical squadrons and a training squadron, part of a combat fleet of about 320 aircraft that also includes F-15s and F-35s. The IAF fields around 600 fighters but remains well short of its sanctioned 42.5 squadrons.
Veer Guardian 23, the first edition, was held in January 2023 at Hyakuri in Japan, where Tokyo deployed four F-2s and four F-15s while India sent four Su-30MKIs, two C-17s, an IL-78 refueller and about 150 personnel.