The Indian Navy achieved a historic milestone when a MiG-29K fighter aircraft made a night landing on the INS Vikrant for the first time. The Navy described the feat as “challenging” and demonstrated the skills and professionalism of the Vikrant crew and naval pilots. The landing took place on Wednesday night while the ship was sailing in the Arabian Sea. The Indian Navy spokesperson, Commander Vivek Madhwal, said that this is indicative of the Navy’s self-reliance efforts.
In February, MiG-29K and a prototype of the Naval variant of the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas jets had conducted day landings on the aircraft carrier. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the Indian Navy for the successful maiden night landing trials of MiG-29K on INS Vikrant.
In September last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India’s first indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant that made the country part of an elite group of nations.
