A Rafale Marine fighter jet has successfully landed on board India's indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant for the first time, the Indian Navy has said, marking a major milestone in the country's naval aviation programme.

The Navy announced on October 30 that the aircraft had landed on the carrier on its maiden attempt on October 29, and shared video footage of the landing. The Navy described the ongoing trials as the first steps towards operationalising the aircraft in the Indian Navy, adding that the jet also took off from the carrier during the trials.

Why the landing was a demanding test

The landing was far from routine. The Rafale Marine was designed for France's Charles de Gaulle carrier, which uses catapults to launch aircraft. INS Vikrant, by contrast, uses a short take-off but arrested recovery system: jets launch from a curved ski-jump ramp at the bow and land by catching steel arrestor wires with a hook.

Before attempting the shipboard landing, the aircraft was tested at the shore-based test facility at INS Hansa in Goa, where a replica of the carrier deck, complete with ski-jump ramp and arrestor wires, allowed pilots and engineers to validate the jet's carrier compatibility with minimal modification.

The 26-jet deal behind the trials

The trials support a major acquisition. India and France signed an inter-governmental agreement on April 28, 2025, for 26 Rafale Marine aircraft, comprising 22 single-seat fighters and four twin-seat trainers, in a deal valued at approximately Rs 63,000 crore.

Deliveries are expected to begin in late 2028 or early 2029 and continue into 2030-31. The jets are intended to operate from both INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya, and to eventually replace the Navy's ageing Russian-built MiG-29K fleet, which currently flies from India's carriers.

A home-built carrier comes of age

INS Vikrant was built by Cochin Shipyard and commissioned on September 2, 2022, displacing about 45,000 tonnes. Its first fixed-wing landings came in February 2023, when a MiG-29K and the naval variant of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas landed on its deck. The Rafale Marine is now the third fixed-wing type to land on the ship.

Further trials and integration work lie ahead before the aircraft enters operational service, including weapons integration. Once in service, the Rafale Marine is expected to strengthen India's maritime air defence, reconnaissance and strike capabilities, including with Meteor, MICA and Exocet missiles, at a time when the Indian Ocean region is seeing growing naval competition.

For now, the first arrested landing on Vikrant's deck is a deliberately symbolic achievement as well as a technical one: a French-built fighter, bought for India's Navy, proven on a carrier India built itself.