France at Tarang Shakti is the end of a very long road. The French Air and Space Force detachment now flying in the Indian Air Force's multinational exercise reached India after crossing the Arctic, the North Pacific and South East Asia, as part of a round-the-world deployment called Mission Pegase 26.

Four Rafale F4 fighters, three A330 MRTT tankers and two A400M Atlas transport aircraft make up the force, with around 300 airmen, according to the mission press kit issued by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces.

The deployment left France on 8 September and is due back on 15 October. The plan covers nine destinations in under 40 days and more than 40,000 km of flying. "This year's mission is essentially a full-scale operation," the Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force wrote in the foreword to the kit.

The foreword lists three aims: strategic signalling, deeper cooperation with partners, and a clear reaffirmation of French sovereignty over its overseas territories.

Why French Rafales flew over the Arctic

This is France's seventh long-range air deployment of its kind, and the first to link the Arctic with the Indo-Pacific and then the Middle East, according to the French Air and Space Force. The first stop was Greenland. From there the main route ran to Alaska, with a second group routed through Canada, before the force crossed the Pacific to Japan.

The French side says the northern route shortens transit times toward the Indo-Pacific. It also tests crews and aircraft in extreme cold.

In Greenland, the French worked alongside Denmark, which the kit credits with recognised expertise in Arctic operations. That cooperation has already seen an A400M Atlas land on a rough, snow-covered strip and resupply isolated Danish outposts. France holds observer status in the Arctic Council, and the kit names Denmark, Canada and the United States as its main partners in the High North.

Alaska was about the United States, a partner France trains with regularly.

Japan, South Korea and Indonesia before India

Japan came next, from 14 to 20 September, the third time a Pegase mission has stopped there. A smaller element visited South Korea from 15 to 17 September, with air-to-air refuelling, space and counter-drone work on the agenda. French aircrew also planned to pay tribute to those who served in the Korean War.

Indonesia, from 20 to 25 September, was the last stop before India. Jakarta has selected the Rafale and received its first A400M in 2025, so the two air forces now fly common aircraft.

France at Tarang Shakti and the India leg

The mission plan places the French detachment in India from 25 September to 3 October. France at Tarang Shakti comes at the invitation of the Indian Armed Forces, the kit says. The Mission Pegase 26 aircraft arrived in Jodhpur last week to join the exercise.

The operational phase of Tarang Shakti 2026 at Air Force Station Jodhpur runs from 26 September to 12 October, with seven friendly foreign countries flying alongside the IAF, according to the Ministry of Defence. French crews therefore join the opening stretch, which also brings US F-35 fighters training with the IAF for the first time.

The kit describes the exercise as a test of the partners' ability to conduct high-end joint operations.

What the French aircraft bring

The Rafale entered French service in 2006. The jets on this mission belong to the F4 family, and the F4.1 standard adds better connectivity, collaborative combat and data processing. It brings the Scorpion helmet-mounted sight, upgraded radar, the SPECTRA self-protection suite, the OSF optronic sensor and the Talios targeting pod, along with new weapons. France is working toward an F5 standard expected by 2030, and aims to have 137 Air Force Rafales at F4 standard by the same year.

IAF pilots know the airframe well. India's 36 Rafales were delivered between 2020 and 2022, and more on the IAF's own fleet is available from the Indian Air Force.

The A330 MRTT Phenix is what makes a trip like this possible. France has 15 of them, operated by the 31st Strategic Air Refuelling and Transport Wing at Air Base 125 Istres. Each can carry up to 110 tonnes of fuel and refuel two fighters at once while also carrying passengers or freight. The French side calls it the cornerstone of every Pegase mission.

The A400M Atlas, declared at full operational capability in 2025, carries the people, equipment and technical support the Rafales and tankers need on the road. It flew evacuation missions from Afghanistan in 2021 and Sudan in 2023.

A long India-France air partnership

The kit calls India a global strategic partner of France in the Indo-Pacific. The two air forces have flown together in exercises such as Garuda, Orion and Tarang Shakti, and the two countries conduct joint maritime surveillance missions in the south-western Indian Ocean. Indian Armed Forces were invited to take part in the 14 July 2023 parade in France, while the French Air and Space Force has flown in India's Republic Day air parade. More on the wider relationship is available from the Embassy of France in India.

A second group is scheduled to route through Reunion Island from 2 to 7 October, where France keeps more than 1,700 military personnel across the southern Indian Ocean.

From India, the main force flies to Qatar from 3 to 7 October, then to Egypt for Exercise Amun, which the French Air and Space Force has joined before. The aircraft are due home on 15 October.