Japanese F-2s make rare overseas deployment for Indian exercise
August 28, 2024
Two Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) Mitsubishi F-2s landed at Paya Lebar Air Base on 27 August, making a brief stopover before continuing their journey to India for the Indian Air Force’s inaugural multilateral Exercise Tarang Shakti.
The Japanese Constitution states that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes” and it’s military posture has always been determinedly defensive. The constitution further laid down that: “In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.”
Rather than maintaining an air force, Japan therefore has an Air Self Defence Force, with primarily defensive capabilities. Offensive capabilities are usually fairly euphemistically described (eg: anti landing craft rather than anti-ship).
Since the end of the Cold War, and parallelling China’s more assertive posture, Japan’s defence policies have become more robust, and co-operation with allied forces has become more common. Japanese aircraft have participated in many overesas exercises, including Red Flag.
Exercise Tarang Shakti is a multi-phase exercise, that has already seen France, Germany, Spain and the UK participating in the successful first phase (which ran from 6-16 August) at Sulur airbase in Tamil Nadu. The second phase will be held at Jodhpur airbase in Rajasthan from 29 August to 14 September and will include Australia, Bangladesh, Greece, Japan, Singapore, the UAE and the USA.
