Japan’s F-2A fighters are operating from Rajasthan for the first time this month, and the two air chiefs steering Exercise Veer Guardian-2026 marked the milestone by flying a joint Tejas formation over Air Force Station Jodhpur on Sunday. The sortie capped a day of messaging from both services that the second India–Japan bilateral air drill is as much about trust in indigenous hardware as it is about dogfighting over the Thar.

What flew on Sunday

Air Chief Marshal AP Singh took the lead in a single-seat Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, call sign Eagle One, while JASDF Chief of Staff Gen Takehiro Morita rode the twin-seat trainer with Group Captain I Samrat, commanding officer of the hosting Tejas unit, in the front cockpit. Defence officials said the formation ran roughly 20–25 minutes: a pass over the Jodhpur airfield, then a peel-off into the landing circuit so each jet could break away in sequence rather than stack on final approach.

Cameras on the ramp caught Singh and Morita walking to their aircraft with Tejas and F-2A lines parked behind them—the Japanese jets that had ferried in from Tsuiki Air Base still wearing the deployment marks of the 8th Air Wing contingent. For Morita, the back seat was a deliberate choice; for Singh, a solo hop in the homegrown fighter was the counterpoint.

The exercise card

Veer Guardian-2026 opened on 9 September and runs through 22 September at Jodhpur, the second edition of the IAF–JASDF fighter exercise after the 2023 debut in Japan. India has stacked Tejas, Su-30MKI and Rafale jets against three F-2A fighters and about 110 Japanese personnel, with C-2 transports having delivered the contingent in the opening week.

Ministry of Defence schedules list advanced air missions, planning conferences, and engineering exchanges on aerospace safety, alongside yoga and cultural visits. Lt Gen Tasaki Takehiro, commander of the JASDF Western Air Defence Force, also toured the station and met senior IAF leadership during the drill.

First fighters on Indian soil

Tokyo had never before sent Kōkū Jieitai fighters to train inside India. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had flagged the deployment on 10 September as a “significant milestone” in the partnership; on Sunday, Singh the air chief echoed that language at a press briefing, calling Japanese operations from Jodhpur a landmark in the relationship. Morita framed the trip as proof that Japan can push air assets across the Indo-Pacific to train with India, not only host Indian crews in Hyakuri or Misawa.

The F-2A is Japan’s Mitsubishi-built multirole jet, developed from the F-16 line with a heavier composite wing and domestic avionics stack. Pairing it against Su-30MKI and Rafale gives both air forces dissimilar-air-combat training they cannot replicate at home without visiting each other’s ranges.

What the chiefs said

After landing, Singh told reporters that Morita’s willingness to fly Tejas was “a very clear example” of faith in India’s indigenous programme. Morita described the sortie as invaluable, thanked the IAF for its hospitality, and said Tejas embodied Make in India’s push in military aviation. He added that Veer Guardian was the first deployment of Japanese fighters to India and that the exercise would sharpen tactical proficiency on both sides.

Putting the IAF chief in the cockpit with Japan’s top uniformed air officer is the kind of optics New Delhi has chased for the Tejas programme. Export orders are a separate ledger; this week’s scoreboard at Jodhpur reads interoperability.

What is left on the calendar

With three days remaining before the Japanese contingent flies home, planners will run the heavier mission sets that require tanker support and range space over western Rajasthan. Neither service has published a public tally of sorties flown, but officials expect the closing days to focus on composite force packages mixing Indian and Japanese fighters under a single air-battle management picture.

When the last F-2A lifts off for Tsuiki on 22 September, India will still have Su-30 and Rafale crews who trained against a Pacific ally’s radar and tactics on home turf—a first that Sunday’s Tejas formation was meant to underline from the cockpit, not just the briefing room.