On March 9, India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) announced that the first prototype of India’s future fighter aircraft – mind you, after the already ongoing long-term project HAL Tejas – Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), a “first metal has been cut”. Based on the 2020 ‘frozen’ design by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and DRDO, the fabrication of leading edges for wings and wing boxes has begun. These units will undergo structural and other tests before they are installed in the first prototype being built from now on.
The projected design looks very similar to recent stealth developments in other countries (China, Turkey, South Korea, …), or rather the required parameters probably result in very similar solutions, such as here more or less a twin-engine F-35. According to ADA Director Girish Deodhare, five AMCA prototypes will initially be created for the development phase and flight testing. The first flight is planned for 2024 or 2025 and series production of 100 aircraft is scheduled to begin in 2030, although – knowing the byzantine Indian project timelines – he is confident of shortening the timeframe to 2028 onwards after four years of flight testing. Regardless of these time horizons and planned milestones, the AMCA’s Critical Design Review (CDR) is still pending.
The AMCA is being developed as a 20-ton stealth fighter with the ability to fly supersonically without afterburner (supercruise). The aircraft will be able to carry 1.5 tons of weapons in the internal bays, plus a total of 6.5 tons of target illumination containers and additional tanks in non-stealth mode at external stations. As with the Tejas, which finally has 83 units in service, a two-stage “growth” is planned. This means an AMCA Mk.1 with US GE414 engines with 98 kn thrust from 2030 and a Mk.2 from 2035 with 110 kn engines, which are (to be) developed by India in cooperation with a foreign manufacturer. India was one of the potential co-paying hopeful countries for Sukhoi’s S-75 Checkmate and also abstained from the current “Ukraine vote” in the UN Council, but the incipient realization of its own ACMA as well as Moscow’s global financial and high-tech isolation after the invasion of Ukraine probably put the prospects of the single-engine Russian jet in checkmate.
