India has successfully launched eight satellites into two different orbits using one rocket, marking one of the most complex launches in the history of the country’s space missions.

The contract between France and India is welcomed by French officials as a diplomatic coup, but it also looms large as part of the arms race between India and some of its neighbors—namely Pakistan and China.

India is working to develop a second indigenous aircraft carrier, IAC-2, as it prepares to induct the first one in the next two years, according to a senior Indian navy official.