Article Summary: India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is moving closer to reality. The fifth-generation stealth fighter, showcased at Aero India 2024, features an internal weapons bay, composite materials, and advanced avionics. India plans to acquire 120 AMCA jets for the Air Force and a naval version for its carriers.
Key Point #1 – Powered by General Electric F414 engines, the AMCA will incorporate some sixth-gen technologies, including loyal wingman drones and directed-energy weapons.
Key Point #2 – While deliveries aren’t expected until 2036, the AMCA project signals India’s ambition to develop a homegrown stealth fighter and compete in the global defense aviation market.
India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA): A Stealth Fighter in the Making?
India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, or AMCA, is making serious progress, as evidenced by a full-scale mock-up recently presented by the Aeronautical Development Agency, the Indian firm behind the design.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will ultimately be responsible for the production of the aircraft.
The model appeared at the Aero India show, held in India earlier this month.
Photographs from the event reveal that the engineers behind the design would like the aircraft to have an internal weapons bay.
Still, previous company artwork showed that it should also be able to carry missiles on external hard points under the wings.
The jet’s payload will reportedly be around 1,500 kilograms, or 3,300 pounds, internally and 6,500 kilograms, or nearly 14,500 pounds, externally.
Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft or AMCA, Explained
The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, or AMCA, is one of India’s most advanced defense projects to date.
Ultimately, the Indian Air Force would like to purchase about 120 AMCA fighters, and the Indian Navy has previously signaled it would like to acquire approximately 45 navalized versions of the fighter.
In naval service, the AMCA would, in all likelihood, initially fly alongside the Indian Navy’s MiG-29K aircraft initially, and eventually replace the Russian carrier fighter.
Like other fifth-generation aircraft, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft would likely make extensive use of composite materials both to save weight as well as to reduce the jet’s radar cross-section.
A twin-engine design, it is also likely that the jet would use S-shaped, or serpentine air intakes in order to physically block the jet’s engine fan blades from radar, typically a significant source of radar bounce-back.
The mock-up also features a canted V-tail, another radar-minimizing design consideration.
However, both the mock-up and other information on the aircraft indicate the jet’s engine nozzles lack the serrations seen on more advanced fifth-generation aircraft like the F-35, potentially compromising the jet’s rear aspect radar cross-section.
Senior Indian Air Force officials previously stated that the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft should also include some technologies typically reserved for sixth-generation aircraft, namely loyal wingman-type drones, and directed-energy weapons.
Off the Shelf Saves Money — but Does it Sacrifice Capabilities?
Interestingly, the new Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft will share a number of components already in production and use with other aircraft in service in the Indian Air Force. Though this would undoubtedly help to reign in costs for a type of aircraft that is notoriously expensive (the United States’ F-35 program is the most expensive defense project in history), the decision could prove to be somewhat limiting.
General Electric Aerospace, an aeronautics firm, signed an agreement in 2023 with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited outlining the terms for the production of their F414 turbojet engines domestically in India. Those engines are used to power the HAL Tejas Mk2 Light Combat Aircraft.
India AMCA Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Previously, both Russia and India had partnered for the initial design of a joint Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, a variant of the Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation stealth aircraft. That project was abandoned in 2019 in favor of a domestically designed fifth-generation Indian fighter, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft.
It will still be some time, however, before the recently-revealed mock-up leaves aeronautical shows for service — the first production Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft are not slated for delivery until 2036.
Still, it’s clear that progress is being made on a platform with promise — and made in India.
Stealth Warplanes: A Photo Collection
B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber.
U.S. Air Force Capt. Kristin “BEO” Wolfe, the F-35A Demonstration Team pilot, climbs into the sky during a flight practice June 17, 2020, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Air Combat Command’s single-ship aerial demonstration teams are required to regularly practice in order to maintain flight currencies and stay performance-ready. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Kip Sumner)
A U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II flies over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, July 15, 2020. The F-35 Lightning II is an agile, versatile, high-performance, multirole fighter that combines stealth, sensor fusion and unprecedented situational awareness. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Duncan C. Bevan)
U.S. Air Force Maj. Paul Lopez, F-22 Demo Team commander, pulls into the vertical during the Battle Creek Field of Flight air show July 7, 2019. Maj. Lopez has over 1,500 hours flying both the F-15 Eagle and the F-22 Raptor and is in his second year as the commander of the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Samuel Eckholm).
PAK DA Stealth Bomber Russia.
Kaan Stealth Fighter from Turkey. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
