India Leapfrog Into Near 6th Gen Fighter To Catch Others
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the aerospace company has started the manufacturing process for India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) by the traditional first steel cutting.
Both the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy are going to be shipped with a near 6th generation twin-engine stealth fighter, replacing the Indian built SPECAT Jaguar and the French built Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters. Of course the SU30 MKIs MK3 will be there along with the Tejas Mk1A, Tejas Mk2, Rafales and may be a few squadrons of SU57MKIs.
AMCA will be a 20 ton range multirole fighter capable of air dominance, ground strikes, enemy air defence suppression and electronic warfare tasks. It is designed to perform deep strikes into enemy territory to destroy air defenses and critical targets. It will have a top speed of 2,600 kilometers per hour (Mach 2.15) and a combat range of 1,620 kilometers.
Advanced technologies planned include supercruise, diverter-less supersonic intakes, advanced avionics, AESA radar, thrust hectoring and artificial intelligence. In stealth configuration it will be capable of carrying 1.5 tons of ordnance in its internal weapons bays. For non-stealth configuration, the AMCA will carry a 23-millimeter cannon and an extra five tons of fuel and weapons on 14 external hardpoints. For striking even the rear most PAF bases, actually stealth is meaningless.
The first two squadrons of the AMCA in the Mark 1 configuration are planned to be powered by a pair of General Electric F414-INS6 turbofan engines, having thrust ratings of 98 kilonewtons. These should be joining IAF by 2031. Thereafter the more advanced Mark 2 version are expected to be powered by an indigenously-produced 125 KN engine co designed by DRDO and French jet engine maker Safran.
The ADA has been working on the AMCA since long, and now the first prototype is to be completed by 2024, and its maiden flight planned for 2025. While HAL and India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) oversee designing the AMCA, they also plans to involve the private sector to reduce development and production costs.
HAL’s near 6th generation fighter project is driven by an imperative to catch up with not only Chinese aviation but even the rest of the World top notch Aviation Companies. At present, China operates the so called J-20 and FC-31 5th generation stealth fighters, which though they have shy to deploy against the IAF over the Himalayas. India’s most capable air superiority fighters the French-built Rafale and license-built 4+ generation Russian Su-30MKI jets are nearly as good.
The AMCA program will provide India with strategic autonomy over critical military technologies and hardware by providing an impetus to its domestic aerospace industry.
However, we may face some cost and technical constraints in its AMCA project. The production of these 5th generation fighter jets is an extremely costly and complex project. Presently only the F-22, F-35 and Su-57 are operational 5th generation fighters with J20 too claiming this status. Though in next 10 years Indian economy will certainly be in top three.
By 2035, we certainly hope to see a fighter Wing each on the North Western Front and North Eastern Front with total of 4 to 6 Squadrons.
