India’s skies go global: Why the world’s fighter jets are coming to train

India is emerging as an increasingly important classroom for modern air combat. The immediate example is Veer Guardian 2026, where Japan’s F-2 fighters are operating from Indian soil for a joint exercise for the first time. At Jodhpur, they are training alongside three very different Indian fighters: the Russian-origin Su-30MKI, French Rafale and indigenous Tejas. The attraction goes beyond flying another country’s aircraft.

India offers an unusual combination of dissimilar fighters, large training airspace and diverse operating environments. The Indian Air Force has spent decades operating aircraft, weapons and sensors originating from different technological ecosystems. It creates a distinctive training environment for visiting forces.

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India's geography adds another dimension, from Rajasthan’s deserts and vast airspace to high-altitude and maritime operating environments.

And Veer Guardian is part of a larger trend. With multinational Tarang Shakti 2026 expected to follow, India is increasingly becoming a place where different air forces can test interoperability, mission planning and tactics against unfamiliar aircraft and operating philosophies.

On WION's Defence Pulse, I asked former Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor, what pilots actually learn when unfamiliar fighters meet?

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He said modern air combat is no longer about comparing individual aircraft characteristics alone. “A fighter aircraft today is not simply a platform. There are a whole lot of sensors.” Kapoor said the real exercise involves understanding how information is collected, communicated from command-and-control systems, absorbed by pilots and ultimately converted into combat action.

I also asked Air Marshal Kapoor about how much information is revealed even to friendly forces in a joint drill, he explained there are limits to what participating countries reveal. Kapoor said such exercises are planned six to eight months in advance, with missions and boundaries agreed beforehand. “Whatever is in the open domain is laid out.”

So why travel thousands of kilometres to India?

Kapoor points to India’s Russian, French and indigenous aircraft mix, its extensive airspace, geography, climate and growing experience of multinational exercises. He described India’s diverse fleet as offering visiting air forces a “huge platter to choose from.” And the learning works both ways. “They come to us because we’ve got the experience, and when we fly with them, we get the experience.” That may ultimately explain India’s growing attraction. Foreign air forces are not simply coming to India to fly. They are coming to encounter aircraft, environments and ways of fighting they do not encounter at home.