Indian Navy Makes First Landing Of LCA Tejas, MiG-29k On INS Vikrant

The Indian Navy’s single-engine Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the Russian MiG-29K both made their first landings on the huge deck of INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier made by Indians. This was a special and important moment in history.

Indian Naval Test Pilots did the first landing as part of their flight tests. Videos of the event are going viral on social media.

The Indian Navy has called the first landing of the naval version of the LCA, which was made in India and put into service in September of last year on the 45,000-ton INS Vikrant, a “historic milestone.”

The Navy also said that it “shows India’s ability to design, develop, build, and run its own aircraft carriers with its own fighter planes.”

“The successful landing and takeoff of the indigenous LCA Navy on India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier is a major step towards the realisation of our shared vision of AatmaNirbharBharat. The MiG-29first K’s landing also marks the beginning of the fighter plane’s integration with the INS Vikrant. “Congratulations to everyone who made it happen,” said Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of Naval Staff.

For those who don’t know, India has not had a working aircraft carrier in almost three years. The 44,500-ton INS Vikramaditya, which India bought from Russia for $2.33 billion over a decade ago, has not yet been put back into service after a major cycle of repairs and upgrades.

The Indian Navy wants to use 12 MiG-29K fighter jets on the INS Vikrant and buy 26 F/A-18E or Rafale M fighter jets to add to its fleet.

INS Vikrant

The INS Vikrant is the biggest warship that India has ever made. It cost about Rs 20,000 crore to make, and it will be fully ready for battle once the MiG-29Ks finish the important tests from its flight deck.

“It will take 3–4 months to finish all of the complicated flight tests for fighters. “However, most of the helicopter tests and weapon tests are done.

The Indian Navy’s Warship Design Bureau made the plans for the aircraft carrier, which was built by M/s Cochin Shipyard Limited. It started its first tests in August 2021, and it was put into service with the Navy on September 2, 2022.

Since December 13, 2022, the INS Vikrant has been doing several air operations with both fixed-wing and rotary-wing planes to get Air Certification and Flight Integration Trials and become “combat ready.”