Top govt panels to assess 7 firms vying for India's stealth fighter jet project

India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is setting up a new Advanced Iron Bird Test Facility for the country’s most important aircraft project which is called the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

Two important government panels will assess the capabilities of the seven public and private sector entities competing for the development of India’s fifth-generation stealth fighter jet or the AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft) programme, Hindustan Times reported citing an official.

The firms will be first evaluated by a committee of senior DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) officials and their findings will be sent to a panel headed by the defence secretary for further review, the same publication reported citing the same official.

Those eyeing the AMCA programme include Hindustan Aeronautics Limited that has partnered with two smaller firms, Tata Advanced Systems Limited, Adani Defence and Aerospace, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Goodluck India along with BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd and Axiscades Technologies, and Bharat Forge Ltd in partnership with BEML Ltd and Data Patter.

These firms have responded to a call for expressions of interest (EoI) by the DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) for building prototypes and supporting flight test and certification of the indigenous stealth fighter.

India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is setting up a new Advanced Iron Bird Test Facility for the country’s most important aircraft project which is called the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). This new site will play a key role in testing and improving India’s first fifth-generation stealth fighter. Officials say the modern setup will help engineers speed up work and make the development process faster than before.

The AMCA is India’s flagship stealth fighter project and an important step toward self-reliance in defense. The new Iron Bird Facility will make sure that any issues with integration or software are found early, which will make future flight trials smoother and safer. Defense experts say this move puts India in the same group as the United States, China, and Russia countries that already have their own fifth-generation fighter jets.