Proposal for 5th-gen indigenous fighter aircraft approved

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security on Thursday cleared the design and manufacture of Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) , setting the country on course to have its own home-grown fifth generation fighter aircraft.

The Rs 15,000 crore approval is for development and production of five prototypes in the next five years. While the first two squadrons are to be powered by the GE-414 engines, the later versions will be flown by a made-in-India engine, whose development is happening on a parallel track.

Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Aeronautical Development Agency would develop the twin-engine stealth fighter jet and associated technologies, officials said.

The approval happened more than two years after DRDO and ADA initiated the process to obtain the CCS approval for AMCA design and prototype development.

Globally there are four fifth-generation aircraft – F-22 Raptor and F-35A Lightning-II from the USA; J-20 of China and Su-57 from Russia.

Such platforms typically include stealth, low-probability-of-intercept radar, agile airframes with super cruise performance, advanced avionics features, and highly integrated computer systems capable of networking with other elements within the battlespace for situational awareness and C3 (command, control and communications) capabilities.

Fifth generation fighter aircraft, due to their very special features, are costlier than fourth generation fighter aircraft. But since AMCA is an indigenous fifth generation aircraft, it is less costlier than similar aircraft available outside.

Even though it is early days, the Indian Air Force wants to induct seven squadrons of such combat aircraft with advanced capabilities. The plan is to induct two squadrons of the AMCA Mark-I and five squadrons of AMCA Mk-II.

While the top brass of the IAF hopes that the DRDO and ADA will be able to deliver the AMCA by the beginning of next decade, critics keep their fingers crossed considering the challenges involved in developing such a platform.

India earlier joined hands with Russia to develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft. But the project didn’t make much headway.

The clearance came four decades after the Union government gave a green signal to develop Tejas Light Combat Aircraft. Following years of ups and downs, the home-grown medium, multi-role fighter jet has been inducted by the Indian Air Force and a naval version is in the works.

India’s fighter squadron strength is on a decline and nowhere close to the sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons. New Delhi is exploring all options to augment the squadron numbers as a couple of Rafale and Tejas LCA squadrons are too inadequate to fill the gap.

The CCS also cleared proposals to buy 34 new ALH Dhruv helicopters for the Indian Army and Indian Coast Guard. The Indian Army will get 25 of these choppers while the Indian Coast Guard will get nine of them.