Seven of India’s biggest defence manufacturers have formally submitted bids to take part in the country’s most ambitious aerospace program — the Advanced Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (AMCA), a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet project slated to become the backbone of the Indian Air Force (IAF) by the mid-2030s.
The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Adani Defence, TATA Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), and Kalyani Strategic Systems are among the firms in contention, alongside two other private-sector bidders.
Evaluation Panel And Selection Process
The bids will be scrutinised by a high-powered committee chaired by Dr. A Sivathanu Pillai, a former DRDO missile scientist who played a key role in the BrahMos program. This panel has the critical responsibility of evaluating both technical and commercial proposals, ensuring that shortlisted firms not only possess advanced manufacturing capabilities but also the financial muscle and project management expertise required to handle a program of this scale.
