The Indian Navy expects to receive the first four of its 26 ordered Dassault Rafale M carrier-based fighters by 2029, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said in remarks reported by Indian media on December 2, 2025.
India selected the Rafale M in 2023 to replace its aging MiG-29K fleet and formally signed the €7.4 billion order for 26 aircraft in April 2025. The contract includes 22 single-seat fighters and four twin-seat trainers.
The first four aircraft will be delivered by 2029. Subsequent deliveries are expected to follow in phases through 2030 and 2031.
A step-change for India’s carrier aviation
A decisive factor in India’s selection was the Rafale M’s ability to operate from STOBAR-configured carriers. In 2022, Dassault’s naval variant underwent trials at India’s Shore Based Test Facility in Goa, where it successfully demonstrated short takeoffs and arrested landings representative of operations from Vikrant and Vikramaditya.
This was notable because the French Navy operates Rafale Ms exclusively from the CATOBAR-equipped aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. Demonstrating STOBAR compatibility confirmed that the Rafale M could meet India’s carrier constraints without major redesign.
The Rafale M will now equip India’s two STOBAR carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya, offering multirole strike, air-to-air, maritime attack, and electronic-warfare missions. The new fleet will gradually replace India’s MiG-29Ks, which have faced serviceability and reliability issues in recent years.
Training and infrastructure work underway
While the 2029 target sets a clear milestone, the Navy will need to complete several parallel efforts to meet that schedule. These include building up maintenance and logistics infrastructure, establishing a training pipeline for naval aviators, and integrating weapons and mission systems.
India’s existing Rafale fleet provides an advantage ahead of naval induction. The Indian Air Force already operates the Rafale B and Rafale C in squadron service, giving India an established ecosystem for training, maintenance, and simulator infrastructure.
While naval conversion will still require dedicated carrier-operations training, IAF Rafale units could support early-stage familiarization, cockpit transition, and mission-systems training for Navy pilots before they begin deck qualification. This shared training base is expected to ease the introduction of the Rafale M and reduce initial timelines for pilot readiness.
The Rafale M will serve as India’s main carrier fighter into the 2030s. In parallel, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited continues development work on the indigenous Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF), intended to enter service in the late 2030s.
