Soon Tejas will be attaining Final Operational Clearance and thereafter HAL and hopefully some private firm too should go on fast drive to start churning out this fighter in large numbers and in various avatars ….Mk1, Mk1A, Mk2 and may be Mk3 also. Also even before the production glitches stabilize, ADA will be placing SHREYAS, the replacement for Tejas on the drawing boards.
However presently ADA is busy with the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project of India and has gone deep into the detail design phase now. Along with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), hundreds of scientists spread across at least 20 Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) labs are now engrossed in critical work to find solutions to a number of gen-next technologies that need to be proven.
The Project Definition Phase of AMCA was over in 2017, and ADA designers have already completed designing the AMCA, India’s stealth fighter. Presently The AMCA will be propelled by a GE-414 engine with a thrust of 90 kN and this will be an interim step till a higher thrust engine of 110 kN is finalized, which hopefully should be the Kaveri. Till that time The GE-414, which will power Tejas Mk-II, will power AMCA as well.
The current plan is to fly AMCA with GE-414 engine for the first six-seven years, what the designers now term as an ‘interim engine’ for India’s 5th-generation stealth platform. While the design phase has already been sanctioned to commence activities, the final approval for AMCA from the government (Cabinet Committee on Security) is in process.
As a next step, after due sanction, four prototypes will be built and the aim is to fly them before 2025 that is in less than six years. While the AMCA Directorate at ADA is ensuring a robust foundation for this next project, IAF will be finalizing the exact required numbers.
For a two front war, the minimum comfort level can be provided not with 45 squadrons but at least 66 squadrons. Out of these the heavy version should stabilize at around 18 Squadrons, the medium variety around 21 squadrons and the lighter variety at around 27 squadrons. With 2 Rafael Squadrons and the existing 3 squadrons of Mirage and the likely 5 squadrons of MRCA in mind IAF should be planning for around 6 Squadrons of AMCA in MK1 version and another 9 squadrons in MK2 version with production spread over to 2040.
The feasibility study for AMCA had begun in 2009 with an initial funding of Rs 90 crore. Another Rs 400 crore was sanctioned for the Detail Design Phase (DDP) to be completed by 2020-21. Thereafter flight testing should start with the prototypes, leading to Production Variants, LSP and eventually certification.
“This is for the first time ever in the country we are on a stealth design and the challenges are unique here. However, an advantage is we just have to concentrate on the fifth-gen technologies like stealth since we have already mastered all the 4th-gen technologies through LCA,” an official told. DRDO is also displaying a scaled model of Advance Medium Combat Aircraft with audio-visual effects at Aero India 2019.
Scientists are hopeful of getting this 1:1 AMCA model ready for tests by the end of this year. Further optimisation of stealth features is underway. This is being done not only by scientists in DRDO and CSIR but also many academic institutions including IISc in Bangalore and various IITs.
Detailed R&D on materials, paints and structures are being undertaken by various labs now. Study is also underway on flight control, avionics, aerodynamics, composite structure and general systems like brakes, hydraulics and fuels systems.
“We hope to have the first flight of AMCA before 2025 with all the stealth features being established by then. With reduced IR (Infra Red), we are working on the super cruise abilities that give the aircraft capability to fly at supersonic speeds without the afterburner,” says the official.
Passive sensors, internal weapon bay, advanced integrated avionics, next-gen AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar, 360-degree enhanced situation awareness, IVHM (Integrated Vehicle Monitoring System), serpentine air intake, IRST (Infra Red Search and Track), MAWS (Missile Approach Warning System) and Diverterless Supersonic Intake (DSI) are some of the features being claimed by Indian scientists that will make AMCA a powerful fighting machine.
Added features like SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defence) and DEAD (Destruction of Enemy Air Defence) will also give more teeth to its BVR (Beyond Visual Range) characteristics.
“Parallel efforts to camouflage the aircraft to achieve visual and IR stealth will continue in the next few years,” adds the official.
