New Delhi: In a significant push towards enhancing India’s indigenous defence capabilities and fostering a robust domestic aerospace industrial ecosystem, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday approved the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Programme Execution Model. The ambitious fifth generation fighter aircraft programme will be executed by the Aeronautical Development Agency through industry partnership.
“The Execution Model approach provides equal opportunities to both private and public sectors on competitive basis. They can bid either independently or as joint venture or as consortia. The entity/bidder should be an Indian company compliant with the laws and regulations of the country,” a statement from the ministry read.
ADA will shortly issue an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the AMCA Development Phase, the statement read further.
According to reports, AMCA will be incorporated with features like stealth airframe, internal carriage of smart weapons, and advanced sensors with data fusion among others.
The production of AMCA is planned to start after 2030, reported the New Indian Express. The report further highlighted that these aircraft would have capabilities of swing-role, close combat, and precision strike as these will be fitted with future missiles, standoff weapons, and precision weapons.
So far, only three other countries, the US, Russia, and China, have developed these 5th generation aircraft. It is a twin-engine medium multi-role aircraft.