A JASDF Chief Tejas flight is reportedly on the itinerary when Gen Takehiro Morita, the 38th Chief of Staff of Japan's Air Self Defence Force, visits Air Force Station Jodhpur from September 19 to September 22 for the Distinguished Visitors Day programme of Exercise Veer Guardian 26. A JASDF press release describes the trip as a chance to promote bilateral defence cooperation and deepen mutual understanding with the Indian Air Force.

The visit lands in the closing days of Veer Guardian 26, the second edition of the India Japan fighter exercise and the first to bring JASDF combat aircraft onto Indian soil.

A four day trip built around one day at Jodhpur

Gen Morita departs Tokyo's Haneda International Airport on September 19 and lands at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi the same day, according to a JASDF schedule. He travels on to Jodhpur on September 20 for the Distinguished Visitors Day programme, which includes a meeting with the Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. The return leg begins September 21, with Gen Morita flying back to Delhi before departing Indira Gandhi International Airport and arriving at Haneda by September 22.

Distinguished Visitors Day is a set piece on most major air exercises, built to let senior officers from participating and partner air forces watch the flying programme up close and sit in on operational briefings.

The JASDF Chief Tejas flight claim awaits confirmation

Ahead of the visit, a post tagging the Rajasthan defence PRO along with the Indian Air Force and JASDF public affairs handles said Gen Morita is set to fly the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas at Jodhpur on September 20. Neither service's own release names an aircraft for the Chief of Staff, and the JASDF schedule lists only the DV Day programme and the meeting with the Chief of Air Staff for that day. Until the Indian Air Force or JASDF confirms it directly, the JASDF Chief Tejas flight remains an unconfirmed detail of the visit rather than a settled part of the programme.

A Tejas sortie for a visiting JASDF Chief of Staff would sit naturally alongside the DV Day format, which typically gives senior visitors cockpit time or a close look at the host air force's frontline types.

Veer Guardian 26 closes out a fortnight of joint flying

Exercise Veer Guardian 26 runs from September 9 to September 22 at Air Force Station Jodhpur, according to a Ministry of Defence release, the second edition of the bilateral air exercise and the first held on Indian soil. The Indian Air Force is flying a mix that includes the Tejas, the Su-30 MKI and the Rafale. The JASDF has deployed three F-2A fighters from its 8th Air Wing at Tsuiki Air Base, along with roughly 110 personnel, for a fortnight of advanced operational missions, mission planning conferences and engineering exchanges. Two JASDF C-2 transport aircraft carrying the advance party touched down at Jodhpur on September 5, ahead of the F-2As themselves.

The F-2As reached Jodhpur by a long ferry route, flying from Tsuiki via Naha Air Base in Okinawa and a stop in Thailand, with aerial refuelling support from the United States Air Force along the way. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo on August 25, before the deployment began, Gen Morita called the exercise, detailed in a JASDF announcement the same day, "a great opportunity to further deepen mutual understanding and relationship of trust" between the two air forces.

A meeting with the IAF's Chief of Air Staff

The DV Day schedule places Gen Morita in a meeting with Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, the Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, on September 20. Air Force Station Jodhpur falls under South Western Air Command, and DV Day programmes on IAF exercises typically pair a flying display with operational briefings for the visiting delegation.

A widening bilateral air force relationship

The visit comes weeks after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi signed a Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation in New Delhi, and months after the two countries' Defence Secretary and Vice Minister level officials held their 8th Defence Policy Dialogue in Tokyo. India and Japan also run the Dharma Guardian army exercise and the JAIMEX naval exercise on a recurring basis, alongside Veer Guardian on the air force side. Air force to air force exchanges have grown steadily since the first Veer Guardian, held in Japan in January 2023, when Indian Su-30 MKIs flew against JASDF F-2 and F-15 aircraft at Hyakuri Air Base.

Gen Morita takes over the JASDF's day to day operational planning and readiness portfolio, having become its 38th Chief of Staff on August 1, 2025. His trip to Jodhpur is due to end with departure from Delhi on September 22, closing out the visit before Veer Guardian 26 itself wraps for the year.