Punjab, Sept. 21 -- The air chiefs of India and Japan flew together in a joint exercise at Jodhpur, with sorties in the Tejas. Air chiefs taking to the air together is a diplomatic act as much as a military one.
Why the aircraft was the message
The Tejas is India's indigenous light combat aircraft, and it is also a product India is trying to sell. Putting a visiting air chief in the back seat is the most direct demonstration available that the platform is trusted by the force that built it.
No export campaign is announced this way. Every export campaign begins this way.
The Japan angle
India and Japan have deepened defence cooperation steadily, driven by a set of concerns in the Indo-Pacific that neither side names in press releases. J...