Make in India push:5th generation fighter programme gets green light

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Programme Execution Model. The model aims to enhance India’s indigenous defence capabilities and foster a robust domestic aerospace industrial ecosystem. In a statement, Defence Ministry on Tuesday said that the Execution Model approach provides equal opportunities to both private and public sectors on a competitive basis. It stated that the entity or bidder should be an Indian company compliant with the laws and regulations of the country. The Ministry added that this is an important step towards harnessing the indigenous expertise, capability and capacity to develop the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft prototype, which will be a major milestone towards self-reliance in the aerospace sector.
The project will be helmed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said the Defence Ministry in a press release. The ADA is a dedicated arm of the DRDO that was established to oversee the development of India’s Light Combat Aircraft programme. It will lead the project in partnership with private industry partners. An Expression of Interest (EoI) for the AMCA Development Phase will be issued soon. “Both private and public sector entities would do bidding for the project, either independently or as a joint venture or as consortia. The entity/bidder should be an Indian company compliant with the laws and regulations of the country,” said the MoD statement.