The ship is in motion and it's time to bring up the aircraft, starting with the Chetaks. Blades unfolded, IN-480 is the first to be brought up on deck through the forward elevator.   

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IN-439 is moved to the forward position ahead of IN-480.

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Even as the Chetaks are being positioned, the first Seaking IN-521 has been brought on deck through the central lift-1.  

IN-521 is rotated and placed in position near the 400 ft mark. The second Seaking, IN-524, is also brought above deck through lift-1 and is temporarily placed alongside IN-521.   

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Once positioned, the helicopters may be refueled and equipped. 

IN-524 has been moved away to be positioned near the 500 ft mark. 

2.1.1 2004 and 2005 : Sea Harrier vs. Rafale, Sea Harrier vs. MiG-29

Since induction, the Indian Navy had flown the Sea Harrier against all of the IAF's aircraft and achieved good results, especially against the Mirage-2000. INAS 300 had two opportunities to test their capabilities against the French Flotille 12F operating the vaunted Rafale-M during the "Varuna" exercises  in 2002 and 2004. Most of the missions would involve the Sea Harrier playing as the attacker against a fleet of ships defended by Rafales operating from the Charles-de-gaulle. The initial outcome of these missions was somewhat predictable - the Rafales would easily pick up the Sea Harriers almost as soon as they took off from the Viraat, and call for a BVR-kill, ending the mission ! When these BVR calls became rather frustrating, missions were switched to WVR-combat which surprisingly proved to be the Rafale's undoing! Close-in, the Harriers were mostly not even visually picked up by the French pilots who hadn't noticed them until it was too late, also being unable to outturn their opponents for the most part. However, it was concluded that this was due to the precedence assigned to BVR by the French and their comparative lack of training for WVR engagements and not much due to the Sea Harrier itself. Pilots of INAS-300 concluded that had they piloted Rafales instead, they would be easily able to make mincemeat out of the Harrier under any condition. One would have noticed that the events and outcome of these exercises were almost similar to the performance of IAF Mirage-2000s against French Mirage-2000s of 1/12 ‘Cambresis’ during the joint exercise 'Garuda' in February 2003.

 In 2005, the White Tigers flew to the IAF's AFB in Jamnagar, in order to take on the MiG-29s of No.28 'The First Supersonics' and No.47 'Black Archers' squadrons. Some firing practice against targets towed by the MiG-23MFs of the No.224 'Warlords' squadron, was also carried out. Comparison of turn performance is also a regular feature of DACT, where the ground controller assigns a specific speed for both aircraft and tells them to start turning. At lower speeds, the Sea Harrier was only marginally lower in sustained turn rate but beyond Mach 0.7, became quite hopeless against the MiG-29. What ensued during actual DACT was set to be a massacre - the MiG-29's superb N019 BVR radar in addition to their outstanding maneuverability besides the HMS, proved more than a handful. In BVR, the Fulcrums could easily lock-on to the Harriers and end the engagement within seconds. Unlike the Harrier, the MiG-29 was capable of sustained +9G performance and was easily able to outturn the former in most regimes. The only chance that a Harrier had against the MiG-29 was to lure the latter into a dive and use thrust-vectored control to break out of the path. However, since each aircraft and squadrons do have their own set of unique advantages and disadvantages catering to specific types of engagements, things did not always go in the MiG-29's favor. The MiG-29 for instance, has a relatively large planform and smoky RD-33s which allowed the Harrier pilots to visually acquire them out to nearly 27 km. In turn, the Sea harrier is itself, extremely difficult to notice and visually acquire, and was often able to get the jump on the Fulcrum. In spite of the MiG-29 technically outclassing the Sea Harrier, a series of successes lead INAS-300 to conclude that the MiG-29 pilots were 'Blind as bats', much to the frustration of the latter ! This was somewhat reminiscent of the first kill by Flt. Lt. Paul Barton over Falklands where the bogey never even noticed the Harrier until it was too late.  Despite the superiority of the MiG-29, the White Tigers were very happy with their performance and it was ironic that the aptly titled 'First Supersonics', the very first IAF squadron to operate a supersonic aircraft (the MiG-21F-13), couldn't always get the edge on their subsonic counterparts. Coincidentally, the next fighter type to be operated by the Navy will be the MiG-29K. The exercise also served as an opportunity to test and prove the effectiveness of the new 'Ghost Gray' Sea Harrier camouflage scheme. 

IN-617 is brought above on deck through the central deck Lift-1. Once on top, the aircraft is towed to the aft deck for lineup.   

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All Sea Harriers on board are carrying combat tanks. The combat tanks are not normally jettisoned and are designed to make the increase in Coeff. of Drag, as insignificant as possible. During Aero India 2005 however, the participating Sea Harriers flew clean.  

Second Harrier on deck is IN-603, showing off it's new light ghost-gray camouflage scheme. Extensive flogging has contributed it's fair share to smut on the airframe, making for a slightly unattractive appearance.  

IN-603 is towed to the lineup on the aft deck. Markings have been reduced and the white tiger emblem is now just an outline in darker gray.   

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IN-603 is positioned just behind the Barak VLS cells, joining the other Harrier in the lineup. 

The 'Lion' (IN-613) has arrived. Although the older camouflage scheme looks nicer, the new one has actually been proven in DACT, to be superior for aircombat, significantly reducing visibility. 

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'Lion' is also zigzagged towards it's position in the lineup.  

Moving the Sea Harrier is a bit easier than the mammoth Seaking. While 'Lion' is positioned into the lineup, the last Sea Harrier is being brought up on the lift. One Seaking (IN-516) and one Sea Harrier (IN-608) 'Cougar', remain inside the hangar. 

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