How India lags a generation behind in the development of indigenous fighter aircraft

A full-scale model of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), a fifth-generation multirole stealth fighter, being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has been displayed for the first time at the ongoing Aero India-2025, which has attracted considerable attention.

The twin-engine, medium-weight aircraft is likely to be inducted into the Indian Air Force by 2035, when other major air forces like those of Russia, US and China would be operating the sixth-generation fighter, developmental works on which are already well under way in other countries.

According to reports, in August 2013, just a few months after a 1:8 scale demonstration model of an earlier concept of the AMCA was unveiled, Russia had revealed that it would proceed with the development of a sixth-generation jet fighter. Referred to as Mikoyan PAK DP, the project has now entered the development phase.

The US has launched the Next Generation Air Dominance Programme (NGAD) and is expected to field its first sixth-generation fighter around 2030. Aircraft majors Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have all announced sixth-generation aircraft development projects. In September 2020, the US Air Force announced that a prototype aircraft under NGAD had flown for the first time, but details were classified.

In January 2019, a senior executive from the China’s aviation industry announced that China had begun pre-research on sixth-generation aircraft and the programme was expected to come to fruition by 2035. Concepts and mock-ups of sixth-generation aircraft have been shared on social media, and a few months ago, there were reports and images of China test flying a new tailless aircraft. Pakistan, too, has envisioned an interest in Chinese stealth aircraft programmes.

Europe is also not too far behind. The United Kingdom announced the development of a sixth-generation fighter concept, named Tempest, at the 2018 Farnborough Airshow. France, Germany and Spain are reported to be working jointly on a similar project as part of their Future Combat Air System Programme.

This implies that when India’s home-grown fifth-generation fighter takes wings, the country would still be a generation behind other major air forces. This even as the production of the DRDO-designed fourth-generation fighter, Tejas, by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is facing headwinds and the pace of induction is sorely lagging, prompting the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Aman Preet Singh, to reportedly comment during his visit to Aero India that “at the moment, I am just not confident of HAL, which was a very wrong thing to happen”.

At present, the most advanced aircraft in the Indian inventory is the French Rafale, categorised as a 4.5 generation platform. The Indian Air Force has 36 Rafales, equipping two squadrons. The Navy is also in the process of acquiring 36 maritime variants of Rafale for carrier-based as well as shore-based operations.

The development of AMCA, being executed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), follows the Light Combat Aircraft project that culminated in the much-delayed production of Tejas. In March 2024, the Cabinet Committee on Security had cleared the AMCA prototype development project at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore.

Some senior Defence functionaries also project the AMCA as a 5.5-generation fighter aircraft, meaning that in addition to capabilities of fifth-generation fighters already in service with some countries, it could incorporate a few features that will be employed in the upcoming sixth-generation fighters.

Fifth-generation fighters that evolved in the first part of the 21st century and are the most advanced combat aviation platforms at present are characterised by stealth features, agile airframes and radical design, super-cruise performance, meaning that they can fly faster than the speed of sound for sustained periods without relying on fuel-intensive afterburners, high level of automation with Artificial Intelligence attributes, advanced avionics and highly integrated computer systems capable of network-centric operations.

The first operational fifth-generation fighter was the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which entered service with the US Air Force in December 2005 – when the indigenous fourth-generation Tejas was still in the prototype stage, followed by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II in July 2015. China’s Chengdu J-20 was inducted in March 2017, a little after the first Tejas squadron became operational, while the Russian Sukhoi Su-57 entered service in December 2020.

Over 1,000 F-35s have been manufactured, which have also been exported to several other countries. China, with whom a protracted stand-off along the Line of Actual Control is continuing since 2020, is estimated to have already inducted about 300 J-20s, which have also been spotted at air bases located in Tibet.

In contrast, the IAF has just two operational squadrons of the older generation Tejas, though 73 more aircraft are on order and the procurement of another 97 has been approved.

In April 2010, the Indian Air Force issued an Air Staff Qualitative Requirement (ASQR) for the AMCA, following which a feasibility study was launched by ADA in October 2010 with a fund allocation of Rs 100 crore. The first demonstration of a 1:8 scale model was unveiled at the 2013 edition of Aero India.

Going by the projected specifications of the AMCA, it would be the lightest aircraft among the fifth-generation aircraft, with its empty weight being around 12,000 kg as compared to 13,290 kg for the F-35, 17,000 kg for the J-20 and 18,500 kg for the Su57. Though slightly larger in size than the US aircraft, it would be smaller than the Chinese and Russian counterparts.

While ADA is the lead agency in the development of the AMCA, numerous private and public sector entities are also associated in the long and complex technological journey. Initially, five prototypes will be built by industry partners and the first flight, originally scheduled for 2017, is now expected in 2028.

The IAF plans to procure at least 125 AMCAs, equipping seven squadrons. These would eventually supplant the multi-role Russian-origin Su-30 MKI which at present form the backbone of the IAF fighter fleet. The IAF operates 260 Su-30s with 13 squadrons, with another 12 of these aircraft on order.