India Moves Forward With 5th-Gen Advanced Medium Combat Fighter Jet Programme; Opens Doors For Private Players

India's AMCA Programme: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the programme that will see the execution and development of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft for the armed forces.

India's Fighter Jet programme: Amid heightened tensions with Pakistan and increased threat from China, India has approved the execution of its Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft development plan. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the programme that will see the execution and development of the 5th-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft for the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence said that the move will give a significant push towards enhancing India’s Indigenous defence capabilities and fostering a robust domestic aerospace industrial ecosystem. 

"Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh has approved the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Programme Execution Model. The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is set to execute the programme through Industry partnership. The Execution Model approach provides equal opportunities to both private and public sectors on a competitive basis. They can bid either independently or as a joint venture or as consortia. The entity/bidder should be an Indian company compliant with the laws and regulations of the country," said the Ministry.

Notably, India has been working to develop a medium combat fighter jet but the plan has been in its very early stages. "This is an important step towards harnessing the indigenous expertise, capability and capacity to develop the AMCA prototype, which will be a major milestone towards Aatmanirbharta in the aerospace sector. ADA will shortly issue an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the AMCA Development Phase," said the Ministry.

Notably, India has already developed a light combat jet Tejas in collaboration with industry and is now looking for indigenous production of the AMCA.

This comes days after India and Pakistan were locked into and intense military combat where the air forces of the two nations played a crucial role in defining the moment. While India used Rafale (French aircraft) and Sukhoi (Russian aircraft), Pakistan used Chinese and US aircraft in combat. Now, India wants to reduce its reliance on foreign players for combat aircraft. 

The AMCA is a stealth fighter jet India is working to develop in collaboration with the industry players. It will be advanced, fast, and hard to detect by enemy radar — similar to the US F-35 or China's J-20. The decision comes at a time when the US is trying to sell its F-35 jets to India. The US, China and Pakistan will now be closely monitoring India's AMCA programme.