India To Soon Build Its First 5th-Generation Fighter Jet Prototype

India is one step closer to putting its first prototype of a fifth-generation fighter jet, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), into service. The Critical Design Review (CDR) process for the same is set for December. Officials at the Aeronautical Development Agency say that the project then needs approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) (ADA).

The goal of the CDR is to finish designs by analysing, simulating, drawing up schematics, and testing them. The Cabinet Secretariat is in charge of the CCS, which is in charge of making decisions about major appointments, national security, and defence spending.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the ADA, which is part of the Defense Research and Development Organisation, are working together on the AMCA programme (DRDO).

“Once the project is approved, the first prototype could be ready in three years, and the first flight could happen a year or a year and a half after that,” AMCA project director AK Ghosh said at DefExpo 2022, which just ended. Based on this estimate, the first prototype of India’s 5th-generation fighter jet will take off in 2028.

A report from The Hindu says that the AMCA will be a twin-engine stealth fighter jet that weighs 25 tonnes and has an internal weapons bay. It will also have a Divertless Supersonic Intake, which has never been made in India before.

The aircraft’s radar cross-section can be reduced by the internal weapons bay, which will have a 1500-kg payload, a 5500-kg external payload, and a 6500-kg internal fuel capacity (RCS). Low RCS is important for stealth aircraft because it makes it harder for radar operators and other assets to find, track, and attack them.

The AMCA programme is just one more way that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dual visions of “Make in India” and “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) in the defence sector are being put into action.