Government Approves 5th-Gen Indigenous Fighter Aircraft!

On Thursday, the Cabinet Committee on National Security approved the design and manufacture of Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), setting the country on its course to have its own indigenous fifth generation fighter aircraft. This approval indicates that India has decided to end its reliance on foreign fighter jets.

5th Gen Fighter Aircraft-AMCA

According to government sources the initial cost of the project is around 15000 crore. Reports indicate that the swing role AMCA is capable of achieving supersonic cruise speeds. After the development of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, this will be India’s next ambitious project. It’s also a boost for Make in India as far as the defence sector is concerned.

The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation will develop stealth fighter jets and its technologies in cooperation with various private and public sector agencies. Under this project they will build around five prototypes in the next five years.

Specifications

The specifications of AMCA are-

• It is being designed as a stealth, medium weight, twin-engine, fifth generation multi-mission aircraft.
• It will have multirole and swing role capabilities, allowing it to tackle both air-to-air and air-to-surface operations with equal lethality.
• It will have a single seat layout with shoulder mounted diamond shaped trapezoidal wings. A profile with substantial area-ruling to reduce drag at transonic speeds.
• AMCA, is expected to use distributed passive sensors with AI-assisted data fusion to increase situational awareness.
• It will have integrated computer systems capable of networking with other elements within the battlespace for situational awareness and C3 (command, control and communications) capabilities.
• Then Being a 5th generation aircraft it shall have all the stealth features even when armed. For example, Low Probability of Intercept Radar (LPIR), high-performance airframe, the Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD), precision strike and maritime operations etc.

Overall, this move will not only reduce our reliance on foreign fighter jets but will greatly bolster our defence capabilities.

Moreover with this approval India will be among select countries like US, Russia and China to posses 5th generation stealth fighter aircraft.