India Advances 15,000 Crore AMCA Stealth Fighter Project Amid Engine And Time Challenges | BattleCry

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:16]Hello and a very warm welcome to a special edition of Battlecry. I'm God of Savin. One of India's most ambitious aerospace programs, the AMCAR or the advanced medium combat aircraft for the fifth generation stealth fighter is our top focus story on this broadcast. The ministry of defense has issued request for proposal or the RFP for the 15,000 cr rupee made in India at Bharat AMA project. So this fifth generation stealth combat aircraft will have about advanced avionic super cruise capabilities and reduced radar signature. The AMA is being developed as a mediumweight twin engine multi-roll stealth fighter jet. The aircraft is expected to feature super cruise capability, internal weapon base and advanced AI systems integrated. Now the project um it's projected to operate at an altitude of between 50 to 55,000 ft should the need arise. Carry about 1,500 kg of weapons internally along with additional 5,500 kg externally. The IIF has been pursuing the AMA project to meet future requirements for deep penetration strike missions deep inside enemy territory and for total air supremacy even in the enemy's skies.

[00:01:36]Now, one of the biggest challenges facing the AMA program remains engine development in India. The initial prototypes and the first two operational squadons are expected to be powered by the American GE General Electric F414 engines. That's about 98 kon thrust class engines. The subsequent five AMA which is M2 squadrons. India plans to indigenously co-develop the much more powerful about 110 konton power engines.

[00:02:09]Now will this be in partnership with the French saffron British Rolls-Royce or US General Electric remains the big question. There are other challenges.

[00:02:20]time and cost overruns, sanctions regime, if you look at what happened with the LCA bottlenecks and these are issues that that the LCA has grappled with for decades. But should we do it?

[00:02:32]Should India be able to deliver then India joins a super elite club of the United States, China and Russia that operate fifth generation stealth fighters. The US has the F-35 Lightning 2 and the F-22 Raptors. Russia with 257 and China with its J20. The challenge of course has been accepted by three shortlisted bidders in India. Larsson and Tubro and Bharat Electronics Limited their consortium then Tata Advanced Systems and Bhat Forge and BEML Consortium all indigenous companies public sector aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has not been included in this program. HAL is not only manufacturing the TJAS fighter jets but also has a large number of other pending orders of the Indian Air Force.

[00:03:23]Once a company is selected, it will work with ADA. ADA is aeronautical development agency and they will develop five prototypes of the FGFA or the fifth generation fighter aircraft and there are very tight timelines in this project. The first AMA prototype is expected to be completed by 2028-29 about 30 months from the time the deal is inked. The first flight of this multi-roll fighter stealth fighter will is expected to take place between 2030 31. The serial production would then start mid 203132.

[00:04:04]It was on on May 15, 2026 that Rakshawantri Rajnad Singh and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chundra Babu Naidu they laid the foundation stone for the core integration and flight testing center at Putaparti in Andhra Pradesh.

[00:04:20]So mid 2030s or late 2030s you should have the FGFA if all goes well. to talk more about the country's most ambitious aerospace weapons platform projects with me on this special broadcast aviators experts spar excellence air marshal Anel Chopra is former director general of center for air pass studies a former fighter pilot former test pilot air marshal Sanjiv Kapoor as former director general flight safety and inspections of the Indian air force and India today's senior journalist sepan air marshal chopra welcome Big step for Atman Bharat in defense. On paper, everything looks awesome. What is your reading of the challenges that lie ahead in terms of the the sharp timelines, supply chain bottlenecks and most important the engine >> go great to be on your show always. Yes, a huge project finally got a go ahead.

[00:05:22]You know, as far back as 200 2010, the Indian Air Force has had made the request. 2016 the ASQRS had also been announced and since then initially HL was trying and there were nearly 24 competitors and finally we are down to three and among the team leaders all three Tarta the L&T Bhat all have been in defense production for a significant period of time and therefore they will be able to lead this project well some of them have got other partners whether Bell or BML and some private companies data matics and data patterns they are all companies which have got a great amount of experience as you rightly said time is of a sense it's a huge project remember that we are still at LCA mark 1A stage 1A has still to induct and we are now heading for a fifth generation aircraft and we new technologies are required there'll be a high level of stealth low observable you know airframe the engine is still an issue you highlighted G4 414 for the first two Scotons G414 itself has to be produced here for LCA Mark II before that. So there are a lot of uh issues that will come up you know why time is of a sense is that first the government has to shortplace one out of these three and finally give them the order I'm very happy that puty where 600 acres of land has been given the government has decided to extend the runway there will be test facilities there'll be accommodation will be coming up will shift there production will take place the first five models that is prototypes three will be for basic testing two will be for weapons timelines are very tight very ambitious to say that because the contract will be timed out before maybe early next year and from there when the clock starts the timelines are rather ambitious and I hope it's going to be a whole of nation approach everybody has to pitch in wholeheartedly and I can tell you I'm a member of the society of Indian defense manufacturers large number of companies already on board with C295 many more are waiting to jump in fingers crossed Everyone wants this project to succeed and as quickly as possible. Air Marshal Kapoor, the first AMA prototype is to fly with the American G414 engines while future variants may depend on the jointly developed engine whether it's with Saffron or Rolls-Royce. Um, does India's dependence on foreign propulsion technology remain the biggest obstacle sir for us to be a true aerospace self-reliant superpower? Absolutely correct. Thank good evening to Shi and to all viewers. It's all nice to be on your show. Uh the first thing I would like to say is that we long ago took a decision to put G engines in our LCS. Now in my opinion that was the turning point in our cavary development and post that we are still tied down with LCA mark 1 alphas and mark 2 is not rolling out our tech BF project on the and this AMA which we are discussing today are also largely dependent on supply of G414 engines. uh the American products always comes with you know lot of restrictions and checks be it ideas be their own uh agencies and they always hold it back the Americans do not give you the complete thing the the Pakistanis now are asking for their F-16 upgrades but the Americans are not giving them what they're asking so what I'm saying is that maybe because of the supply line issues which they are saying for G44 4 I don't know about G414 but at some stage in my appreciation we will have to design and develop the fifth generation based on our indigenous engine >> absolutely the main bottlenecks they remain the same whether it's the LCA or the current situation the engine LCA remains stuck because G44 engines first face sanctions now facing supply chain issues. US, god forbid, may do the same with AMA.

[00:09:49]>> Absolutely. Gorov, you know, the engine has been the Achilles heel for us for all our aircraft programs, whether it's the LCA or now even the AMA. I mean, we can possibly question whether it was the right thing to have done to go in for American engines when you could face these kind of uh you know, supply chain issues. We're not sure if that's the main reason or there are other geopolitical issues there. But the engine uh Gorov if we don't crack the engine uh we are going to be forever dependent on foreign vendors and you have to look at the Chinese they have spent billions of dollars now and they are somewhere near getting to a true fifth generation fighter engine. uh it takes billions of dollars gor we haven't invested that kind of uh money attention resources we have not created the test beds we haven't created the test facilities for uh the uh cavary engine for instance we did not treat it as a national uh all of nation approach program or the way other countries have treated it and that unfortunately is the reason why today we are a missile power but we are not an aerospace power we we created the entire you know infrastructure to test missiles we we you know put up all kinds kinds of laboratories and today we have multiple missiles. We're completely Atman in missile technology but we are still dependent on the world for fighter engine technology particularly when it comes to fighter jet engine technology.

[00:11:11]And let me then take it to the next important aspect. Engine of course that's the lifeblood of of an aircraft of a fighter jet. Air marshal chopra stealth shaping sensor fusion the radars the electronic warfare system the advanced engine and software integration uh technology that's been mastered by a handful of countries. Where are we on this plane?

[00:11:36]>> You know Gon let me take you from the nose to the tail. You know the radar we had decided that Mark 1A the first lot of 83 aircraft we are going to have our own ISA radar made in India.

[00:11:49]Unfortunately the decision had to be reversed and we are now going back to the Israeli radar Ela 21 52 which is going to fly on the mark 1A at least the first 83 and therefore the whole thing has been postponed. You know the radars have to on a stealth aircraft they're very very critical not only from performance point of view but also from the uh reflections point of view. So there is a huge exercise there. You know stealth aeroplane is not just paints it is shaping it's the inlets it's the exhaust it is the will the compressor blades be seen from the front. So there are large number of things which go into stealth. Next is system of system approach. You want the entire 360deree bubble around the uh aircraft uh to be stealthy. You shouldn't be seen but you should be able to have a situational awareness of 360° around you. These are all issues. And let me add one or two small points about the engine. You know we have 40 years with GTRE. We gave them only 8,800 cr rupees. You know what we are going to finally pay to saffron. We know the figures which are in open dom domain will close to 65,000 crores to begin with. If we had you know out of the six thou 8,000 crores that we gave to GT half of it went to the establishment to buildings to set up the basics. So therefore there was a need to have the GTRE be taken over at a much higher level and run the engine program in a much greater detail. There are huge technology challenges. I'm happy it's gone to private sector. HL we all know that from HF24 onwards we are struggling with the engine. HL has hands full. They have got presently eight times their annual balance sheet of orders whether they are helicopters LCA2 over 200 LCA Mark 1A another 200 LCA mark 2s they are going they have got their hands full and therefore it is good it's going to private sector it's time we learned the private sector is doing hugely well we already making absolutely the power center and rear section of LCA we are making the fins of the 57 the F-16 wings and all aeros structures of transport and large number of global supply chain aircraft are being made in India and we we're doing an outstanding job >> and we desperately need a second line in our country and it's great to have the private sector play a big role and hopefully a bigger role in times to come. Air Marshall Kapoor is AMA India's most ambitious tech undertaking you know the technological undertaking uh since you know Sep spoke of our missiles but whether it's our nuclear program our space program our missile program how confident are you on delivery Marshall Kapoor >> in myiction it's not going to be easy because we do not have any of these agencies ever producing any aeroplane except Tata advanced which is set of the final assembly line at Vadra for C29525 that is the only aviation vertical I see and partly the you didn't mention in your covering this thing there are two other private companies one is data matics and one in dynamatics data pattern sorry so these two companies are having niche technology but none of them have ever worked to produce an aeroplane of this caliber obviously the good thing is that with private sector being involved the necessary clearances and issues which are required to get the sanctions, approvals, infrastructure this thing will go at a the speed which is unprecedented with land acquired with clearances given by the government with strict timelines given and HL has an important part you know still though we have kept HL out but in my appreciation HL will have to do the parallel design sharing you know they have worked on the G 40414 part which is required for AMA so HL would be required the HL Nasi produces the titanium verticals which are required for this aeroplane I'm sure HL would be required to give their expertise and some knowhow about the composites which they have developed along with this private though they HL may not be directly involved but HL's help and support initially in my position would be needed to bring up the prototype >> timeline expertise and ensuring no slippages. I've run out of time on this part of the show. I want to thank all our guests. It's a great first step that's being taken. You know the Indian Air Force anyway says Nabhus Pam Deepam touched the sky with glory. Will we be in a position to do that with this fifth generation aircraft? Is a story we'll be watching for very closely. Many thanks for joining me. That is all I have for you on this special edition of the Battlecry. Any thanks for watching.