A first-of-its-kind fighter jet landing shows India's big ambitions for its growing aircraft carrier fleet

• Two fighter jets landed on and took off from India's new aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, this month.
• The jets that landed on Vikrant may not be the jets that India uses on its carriers in the future.
• The continued growth of India's carrier fleet reflects New Delhi's ambitions in the region.

On February 6, the Indian Navy announced that fixed-wing aircraft had successfully landed on and taken off from India's first domestically built aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.

The jets involved were the naval variant of the Indian-made Tejas fighter, referred to as "LCA Navy" for "Light Combat Aircraft Navy" in the announcement, followed by a Russian-designed MiG-29K. Each jet landed using the carrier's arresting cable and then launched from the carrier's ski-jump ramp.

The operations were the latest milestone in New Delhi's "Atmanirbhar Bharat," or "self-reliant India," initiative, which is meant to increase domestic production of military hardware.

Adm. R. Hari Kumar, India's Chief of Naval Staff, said in a statement that the operations marked "a momentous step forward towards the realization of our collective vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat" and heralded the integration of the MiG-29K into the carrier's inventory.

Vikrant's introduction and its first jet operations come at an important time for the Indian Navy, which is seeking to increase its strength to counter the growing threat from China.

Indian carriers

Though Vikrant is India's first domestically built carrier, it is actually the fourth to enter service with the Indian Navy. The first two, INS Vikrant (namesake of the current Vikrant) and INS Viraat, were both former British carriers in service with India from 1961 to 1997 and 1987 to 2017, respectively.

The third carrier, INS Vikramaditya, is a modified Kiev-class carrier India purchased from Russia in 2004. Commissioned in 2013, Vikramaditya brought with it the MiG-29K, the carrier version of the famed MiG-29 fighter jet. The Indian Navy previously used the venerable Sea Harrier.

At about 930 feet long, Vikramaditya displaces about 44,000 tons and can carry 36 aircraft, mainly MiG-29Ks and a combination of Ka-31, Ka-28, and HAL Dhruv helicopters. It has a crew of 1,600, a top speed of 28 knots, and a range of about 7,000 nautical miles.

Vikrant, meanwhile, measures about 860 feet in length, displaces around 43,000 tons, and can carry 30 aircraft. It has a crew of 1,500, a top speed of 28 knots, and a range of 7,500 nautical miles.

Both carriers use a short takeoff but arrested recovery, or STOBAR, system that launches aircraft off a ski-jump ramp rather than from deck-mounted catapults.

INS Vikrant is expected to be ready for operations by the end of this year and INS Vikramaditya is expected to return this spring after an extensive 15-month refit. The newer carrier will reportedly be based on India's East Coast and the older carrier on the West Coast.

India's carriers have been extremely valuable for projecting power in the Indian Ocean, where New Delhi has long regarded itself as the most influential actor.

Vikrant aided the annexation of Goa from Portugal in 1961 by deterring foreign intervention and was vital to the naval blockade of Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan) during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. Viraat supported India's peacekeeping efforts in Sri Lanka and threatened to blockade Pakistan during the 1999 Kargil War.

In recent years, Indian concerns have focused on China's increasing presence and activity in the Indian Ocean. China has deployed surface ships to conduct anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa since 2008, and a Chinese submarine visit to Sri Lanka in 2014 raised alarm in India.

Since then, Beijing has set up a naval base in Djibouti and pursued port projects — which are seen as avenues to advance Chinese economic, diplomatic, and potentially military influence — around the region, including a 99-year lease in Hambantota, a strategically located port in southern Sri Lanka where India has longstanding concern about Chinese military activity. A port call in Hambantota last year by a Chinese tracking vessel raised alarm in India about spying missions off its coasts.

By adding carriers — Indian officials are already considering buying another Vikrant-size carrier — India's navy can keep them at sea off of both its coasts and around the region in order to monitor activity and potential threats from China's navy, the largest in the world.

More carriers would also help India maintain its naval advantage over its longtime rival, Pakistan.

Indian jets

Though the Tejas and MiG-29K are the first jets India has operated on Vikrant's deck, they are not jets that India plans to use in the carrier's air wing in the future.

In 2016, the Indian Navy rejected the naval variant of the Tejas because its single-engine design gives it a low thrust-to-weight ratio, making it unable to launch from a STOBAR carrier with a full load of fuel and weapons. The jet is only being used as a technology demonstrator to inform future operations and development.

The MiG-29K, meanwhile, has been a headache for India. At least five of the 45 jets it has purchased have crashed in the last four years. A 2016 report by the Indian government said 40 of the 65 MiG-29K engines delivered to India had been withdrawn from service or rejected because of defects and deficiencies.

Like the rest of India's military, the Navy is dependent on Russia for major maintenance and support, including Russian technicians and spare parts, which may soon be in much shorter supply given the toll the war in Ukraine has taken on Russia's defense industry.

That reliance is exactly what Atmanirbhar Bharat aims to undo. Although the LCA Navy was rejected, India still has plans for a domestically produced carrier-based fighter. That jet, the Twin-Engine Deck Based Fighter, or TEDBF, is in the early stages of development and is intended to replace India's MiG-29Ks around 2031.

India is also looking to acquire 26 new carrier-borne aircraft from another country to use until the TEDBF arrives. The search narrowed to two models: the French-made Dassault Rafale M and the US-made Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

India's air force already operates the Rafale, leading to reports that the Rafale M will edge out the Super Hornet.