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Seong Hyeon Choi

Japan plans to deploy fighter jets in India for the first time next month, a decision experts say reflects Tokyo’s desire to strengthen security cooperation with “like-minded” countries in the Indo-Pacific region as it ramps up defence spending in response to China’s growing military power.
According to a Japan Air Self-Defence Force announcement on Tuesday, Tokyo will conduct a joint training exercise, Veer Guardian 26, with the Indian Air Force between September 9 and 21 in Rajasthan in western India.
As part of the joint training, Tokyo said it would deploy three F-2 fighter jets to India, as well as about 110 personnel from the Eighth Air Wing stationed at Tsuiki Airbase in southwestern Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture.
“This will be a valuable opportunity to enhance mutual understanding and trust,” said Takehiro Morita, chief of staff of the Japan Air Self-Defence Force.
The deployment – Japan’s first involving fighter jets to India – comes on the heels of a visit by Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi to India last week.
Koizumi met Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and pledged “to further deepen defence cooperation” through bilateral exercises, aiming to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The strategic message is therefore significant: two major Asian powers increasingly see their respective security theatres as interconnected
Jagannath Panda, Indo-Pacific affairs expert
The news of the deployment was first reported earlier this month, with Japanese media saying that Koizumi would discuss the F-2 fighter during his visit to India. An unnamed Japanese defence ministry official reportedly told the Asahi Shimbun that the deployment aimed to “serve as a check on China”.
A Chinese expert cited by state-backed tabloid Global Times at the time accused Tokyo of trying to turn New Delhi into a “frontline player” in Japan’s geopolitical rivalry with China and its revival of “militarism”.
Jagannath Panda, head of the Stockholm Centre for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs at the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Sweden, said that the significance of this year’s Veer Guardian exercise went well beyond a routine bilateral drill.
He said Japan’s F-2 deployment to India showed that the two air forces were “gradually moving from political-strategic understanding towards greater operational familiarity”, with China as an “important strategic backdrop”.
“India confronts China along the Himalayan frontier, while Japan faces growing Chinese military activity in the East China Sea and western Pacific,” Panda said.
“The strategic message is therefore significant: two major Asian powers increasingly see their respective security theatres as interconnected.”
Both Japan and India are members of the “Quad” security alliance, along with the United States and Australia. The group is seen as a counterweight to China’s expanding presence in the Indian Ocean and wider Indo-Pacific region.
The two countries held their inaugural Veer Guardian joint air exercise in Japan in January 2023, at the Hyakuri and Iruma airbases outside Tokyo. The drills featured India’s Su-30MKI aircraft and Japan’s F-2 and F-15 fighters.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government has pledged to accelerate the country’s military build-up amid growing tensions with China and US pressure on allies to shoulder more of the defence burden.
The Japanese defence ministry is reportedly preparing to request a record budget of 8.9 trillion yen (US$56 billion) for the 2027 financial year in an attempt to reach 2 per cent of gross domestic product.


In a white paper published earlier this month, Tokyo described Beijing’s external posture and military activities as a “matter of serious concern” for Japan and the international community. It added that China’s activities presented an “unprecedented” strategic challenge.
The white paper also said Japan would actively promote bilateral and multilateral exercises “with its ally and like-minded countries” throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
Relations between Beijing and Tokyo soured in November after Takaichi suggested that Japan could take military action in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
Stephen Nagy, a professor of international relations at Tokyo’s International Christian University, said Japan was “actively diversifying” its security portfolio in the face of pressure from both Beijing and Washington.
“Deploying F-2s to India signals a mutual recognition that Indo-Pacific stability requires networked deterrence. It’s a pragmatic step to build trust and operational familiarity outside traditional US-centric bilateral frameworks,” Nagy said.
“[Japan and India] demonstrate to Beijing that regional powers can coordinate complex air operations, complicating China’s strategic calculus across multiple theatres simultaneously.”
Nagy said that Japan increasingly viewed its security through a broader Indo-Pacific lens, and by projecting its presence into South Asia, Tokyo was showing it could be a “credible, stabilising security provider” far beyond northeast Asia.
“This reflects a deliberate division of labour. With Washington distracted by the Iran conflict, middle powers like Japan and India are stepping up to anchor regional deterrence.”
Liselotte Odgaard, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, said Japan’s fighter deployment was primarily aimed at strengthening the strategic partnership with New Delhi as part of a “broader Indo-Pacific balancing strategy”.
“The exercise reflects Tokyo’s interest in building security networks among like-minded countries concerned about China’s growing military power and coercive behaviour,” Odgaard said.
“It also enables the Japan Air Self-Defence Force to gain experience in long-range deployments, expeditionary logistics and operations far from northeast Asia.”
She added that the exercise would contribute to “deeper defence cooperation” that “complements” expanding cooperation in maritime security, defence technology, information sharing and broader Quad-related initiatives.
Panda said that India’s growing military partnership with Japan should “primarily be understood through the China factor and the changing Indo-Pacific balance of power”.
“New Delhi increasingly regards Japan as a highly trusted strategic and technological partner whose security interests overlap considerably with India’s, particularly regarding maritime security, freedom of navigation, resilient supply chains and concerns over China’s growing military capabilities,” he said.


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The historic move signals Tokyo’s desire to strengthen defence ties with ‘like-minded’ Indo-Pacific powers, analysts say


The historic move signals Tokyo’s desire to strengthen defence ties with ‘like-minded’ Indo-Pacific powers, analysts say.


What Japan’s coming fighter jet deployment to India means for China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The historic move signals Tokyo’s desire to strengthen defence ties with ‘like-minded’ Indo-Pacific powers, analysts say

The historic move signals Tokyo’s desire to strengthen defence ties with ‘like-minded’ Indo-Pacific powers, analysts say