The aircraft landed aboard INS Vikrant on October 29, completing the recovery on its maiden attempt, the Indian Navy said the following day. It also took off from the carrier during the trials. The Navy described the ongoing work as the first step towards operationalising the aircraft in its service-not as confirmation that the jet is ready for routine deployment.
The shipboard milestone follows testing at the Navy’s Shore-Based Test Facility at INS Hansa in Goa. The facility reproduces key features of carrier operations, including a ski-jump for take-offs and arrestor wires for landings. Such shore-based trials help assess how an aircraft and its crews perform the procedures before operating from a carrier at sea.
The challenge is partly one of adapting an aircraft designed for a different carrier system. France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle uses catapults to launch aircraft, while Vikrant uses a ski-jump for take-off and arrestor wires to recover returning jets. The latter arrangement is known as short take-off but arrested recovery, or STOBAR; catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery is known as CATOBAR.
There are also practical questions about moving the aircraft around the ship. The Rafale-M has fixed wings with a span of 10.9 metres, wider than Vikrant’s approximately 10-metre aircraft lifts, which transfer planes between the hangar and flight deck. Modifications to the lifts are being considered and that wingtip pylons may need to be removed during lift operations. These are among the integration issues that will need to be addressed as trials progress.
India signed a ₹63,000-crore agreement with France in April 2025 to acquire 26 Rafale Marine aircraft for the Navy. The order comprises 22 single-seat fighters and four twin-seat trainers. Deliveries under the contract are expected to begin in 2029 and finish by 2031. The timelines underline that delivery schedules are projections, not a date established by the carrier landing itself.
The Navy’s current carrier fighter is the Russian-origin MiG-29K. Vikrant operates the type using its ski-jump and arrestor-wire system. The Rafale-M is intended to join the carrier air wing, serving alongside existing aircraft as the Navy builds its capability and prepares for the new jet’s eventual induction. A successful landing demonstrates that the aircraft has completed an important part of carrier integration; it does not, by itself, settle questions of training, maintenance, weapons or sustained operations at sea.
The purchase forms part of a wider defence relationship with France, which already supplies Rafale aircraft to the Indian Air Force. The IAF operates 36 Rafales, while a separate proposal for 114 additional fighters has been under consideration. That prospective air-force acquisition is distinct from the Navy’s 26-aircraft marine order and should not be confused with the trials now underway on Vikrant.
For the Navy, the landing is a visible step from shore-based assessment to testing aboard the ship. Further trials and technical work will determine how the aircraft can be handled, operated and supported on India’s carriers. The event marks progress towards integration, while the broader process of preparing the Rafale-M for operational service remains ongoing.
