Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft
The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft is a planned Indian single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather fifth-generation stealth, multirole combat aircraft being developed for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. The aircraft is being designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency, an autonomous aircraft design body under the Ministry of Defence. Serial production of the aircraft is planned to start by 2035.
The AMCA is intended to perform a multitude of missions including air supremacy, ground-strike, suppression of enemy air defenses, and electronic warfare missions. It is intended to supplant the Sukhoi Su-30MKI air superiority fighter, which forms the backbone of the IAF fighter fleet. The AMCA design is optimized for low radar cross section and supercruise capability.
As of February 2025, the prototype development phase is underway after the completion of feasibility study, preliminary design stage and detailed design phase. It is currently the only fifth generation fighter under development in India.
Development
AMCA programme
The AMCA programme, earlier known as the Medium Combat Aircraft programme, is an Indian programme to develop a fifth-generation combat aircraft. It began as a parallel programme to the Indo-Russia Sukhoi/HAL FGFA. The AMCA programme was launched in 2010. Although envisioned as a 20-tonne class fighter earlier, now AMCA is 25-tonne class fighter.Feasibility study phase
In April 2010, the Indian Air Force issued an Air Staff Qualitative Requirement for the AMCA. A feasibility study was launched in October 2010 after a fund allocation of by the Defence Ministry. In November, the Aeronautical Development Agency sought an additional funding of for the development of two technology demonstrators and seven prototypes. By the time, the first flight was expected in 2017.The first scaled demonstration of a 1:8 scale model was unveiled at the 2013 edition of Aero India. The Project Definition and Preliminary Design phase was completed by February 2014 while Engineering Technology & Manufacturing Development phase begun in January 2014. By the time the first flight schedule was pushed back to 2018.
From November 2013 to December 2014, 9 design configurations of AMCA, starting from 3B-01 to 3B-09, were studied using CAD, low-speed and high-speed wind tunnel testing, and radar cross section testing at the Calspan Wind Tunnel. By the end of 2014, configuration 3B-09 was chosen. Also, the initial funding for feasibility studies were utilised and a further funding was expected for 3 to 4 prototypes with a first flight target of 2020-21.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy sought details of the project for a naval variant in March 2013. The proposed variant is referred to as NAMCA or AMCA-N. The naval requirements were officially sent on 7 September 2015 and the aircraft would equip their future IAC-2.
In Aero India 2015, the basic design configuration of AMCA was finalized. Major technologies under development at the time were stealth, thrust vectoring and super cruise. The design was accepted by IAF in 2016.
Detailed design phase
In 2018, ADA received additional funding of for the detailed design phase. By 2019, the programme faced multiple delays while India pulled out from the Indo-Russian FGFA development project which was for a different weight category. AMCA became the "first preference" of the IAF.As of 2022, after multiple delays, the Ministry of Defence was seeking approval of from the Cabinet Committee on Security for the prototype development phase. Again, the timeline of first flight by 2020 was shifted to 2026.
Prototype development phase
The design work was completed in 2023, and approval for the project for prototype development was received from the CCS in March 2024. The Defence Research and Development Organisation expects to roll out the first prototype in three years and the first flight in one to one and half years after that". Total 5 prototypes are to be built. The first flight is expected in late 2028. The first three prototypes will carry out developmental flight trials, whereas the next two will focus on weapon trials. The prototype will be rolled out at an interval of 8-9 months. A Special Purpose Vehicle consisting of ADA, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and a private company was reportedly being formed for the development and production of AMCA.At the Aero India 2025, a full-scale engineering model of the AMCA was publicly demonstrated for the first time. The model was manufactured by VEM Technologies, a private company based in Hyderabad. The firm was responsible for end-to-end manufacturing of composites along with assembly and integration of the entire body. As revealed during the event, ADA has laid out a 10-year development roadmap for the rollout of five prototypes after the full-scale engineering development phase began in April 2024. The prototype roll out is planned by late 2026 or early 2027, followed by first flight in 2028, certification by 2032 and induction in 2034. The timeline details was provided by Krishna Rajendra Neeli, the Project Director of the AMCA programme. Each prototype will cost. The CCS mentioned that any cost overruns during the development should be reported directly to CCS instead of the Defence Ministry.
Production partner selection
Initially, a Special Purpose Vehicle consisting of ADA, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and a private company was to be formed for the development and production of AMCA.However, as of February 2025, the government was yet to decide the production partner for the aircraft since ADA has proposed to hand over the responsibility to private sector companies rather that HAL in view of the company's "not-so-great delivery track-record". Multiple meetings were held with HAL proposing an additional assembly-line dedicated to AMCA if required. However, the government had shifted to an "industry partnership model" instead of the initial plans for SPV. These changes were made to avoid any further delays following setbacks from development funding and lack of clearance from the US government for license production of engines. The private sector partner would be responsible for development, production and lifetime maintenance of the jet.
In March 2025, the Ministry of Defence formed a top level committee, chaired by the Defence Secretary, to evaluate a "clear-cut strategy and production-cum-business model" to accelerate the development of AMCA. The members of the committee are Secretary of Defence Production, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal SP Dharkar and top officials from ADA and DRDO. The committee was tasked to devise a plan to "shrink timelines" to get AMCA from drawing board to air as well as the high thrust indigenous engine development. The report is expected to be submitted by April.
On 27 May 2025, the Defence Ministry cleared the "Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft Programme Execution Model" under which ADA would release an Expression of Interest to develop AMCA through industry partnership. Here, a private or public sector companies can bid either as independent entity, as consortia or in joint ventures for the contract. The prototype roll out is expected by 2028-29 followed by first flight in 2029 and service introduction by 2034 and series production by 2035.
On 18 June 2025, the EOI was released by ADA which is meant to shortlist Indian companies for prototype development, flight testing, and certification of the AMCA. The document calls for 'reputed' Indian companies which are compliant with Indian laws and are experienced in the Aerospace and Defence Sector. The bidder has to establish dedicated facilities for series production of the aircraft. The bidder has to complete the development, prototyping, flight test and certification of the AMCA within eight years of signing the contract and should be capable of setting up a production line for serial production of AMCA independently. While the deadline of responding to the EOI is 16 August, before which a pre-EOI meeting is scheduled for the first week of July.
According to a report published on 13 September 2025, multiple prospective competitors have expressed dissatisfaction with the eligibility criteria outlined in the EOI. One of the criteria is revenue-to-order book ratio which ensures that a large share of aeronautical projects are not taken up by any single entity or to prevent monopolisation. HAL has written to ADA that this financial performance-related requirement is biased against the company and necessitates the formation of a consortium or a joint venture with a private firm to qualify. A company can be financially eligible to participate in the programme only if its order book is less than three times its revenue. However, in case of HAL, the order book is eight times its revenue.
Meanwhile, private companies have argued that it is difficult to compete against HAL since the government has heavily invested in HAL's infrastructure over the years while the private firms would have to develop everything from scratch. They also maintained that the technical parameters should be designed to enable equitable competition. The ministry, however, assured that most of the infrastructure necessary for the prototype development will be provided by ADA.
As per reports on 1 October, seven entities have responded to ADA's EOI and includes: —
- On 24 September, Larsen & Toubro and Bharat Electronics Limited entered into a strategic partnership and the consortium is expected to submit its response for ADA's EoI notice. The consortium is expected to put together, L&T’s expertise in developing strategic defence and aerospace platforms, and BEL’s experience in defence electronics and systems. On 4 November, L&T announced that Dynamatic Technologies Limited had joined their consortium.
- On 26 September, Bharat Forge Limited, Data Patterns Limited and BEML Limited signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding to participate in the AMCA programme. The companies will have an individual stake of 50%, 20% and 30%, respectively, in the consortium. The partnership would reportedly bring together the strengths of each company which includes BFL’s heavy engineering pedigree, BEML’s system assembly and manufacturing presence, and Data Patterns’ strength in avionics and sensors.
- Another MoU was signed by Goodluck India Limited, BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Limited and Axiscades Technologies to submit their bid for the AMCA programme.
- Tata Advanced Systems has independently bid for the programme.
- The participation of Adani Defence & Aerospace in the programme has been confirmed by its CEO, Ashish Rajvanshi. MTAR Technologies have been reported to have formed a consortium with the Adani Group. As a precision engineering firm, MTAR has participated in multiple projects of ISRO and DRDO including Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan as well as the development of Agni missiles.
- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited had released a tender outlining its requirement to select a private-sector firm to participate in the AMCA programme jointly as part of a consortium under the public-private partnership model. By 21 September, HAL received responses from 28 companies and had formed a committee to shortlist two of them for the consortium. The committee is on the verge of submitting a report assessing the suitability of each interested company to form a consortium, based on factors including capability, technology, financial standing, and prior experience. While ADA’s EoI limits the maximum number of partners in a consortium to three, HAL is expected to respond to the EoI with either one or two partners this week. As reported by the Business Standard, Mahindra Group and the Adani Group are the potential partners for HAL in the project.
As of 30 October, the shortlisting is expected within December. Meanwhile, the Request for Proposal is likely to be issued in January–March 2026 the awarding of contract is anticipated in January–March 2027. Additionally, prototype delivery and first flight is expected in 2027–28 and 2029–30, respectively.