India has launched its most ambitious military aerospace project to date, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program, a fifth-generation stealth fighter that is slated to form the backbone of the Indian Air Force by the mid-2030s. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has formally received bids from seven Indian corporations, marking the country’s greatest military research and development endeavor in history.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Adani Defence, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, and Kalyani Strategic Systems are some of the leading competitors. These companies will form alliances to highlight their expertise in aircraft design adaptation, systems integration, large-scale testing, and platform production. The competition represents an extraordinary shift in which commercial defense businesses will compete with the public sector in a program of national significance.
A high-level committee will evaluate bids and technical suggestions, led by A Sivathanu Pillai, a well-known former DRDO missile scientist. This panel will assess both the technical and commercial viability of the proposals, ensuring that only strong partnerships with engineering depth, manufacturing history, and integration knowledge are shortlisted.
The government has set aside ₹15,000 crore for prototype development, with a long-term investment projected at several lakh crores once serial manufacturing and orders are finalized. The concept calls for the construction of four to five prototype aircraft, which will go through extensive testing and evaluation before being introduced on a larger scale. This funding will help with design validation, stealth shaping, materials development, avionics integration, and engine adaption.
The AMCA will combine advanced military technologies required for modern air combat. Key characteristics include stealth design, networked warfare capability, integrated artificial intelligence (AI) for decision assistance, and long-range precision strike capabilities. It is also intended to act in tandem with unmanned wingman drones, offering India its first foray into the sixth-generation manned-unmanned combat system.
This initiative aims to restructure India’s defense-industrial base rather than simply creating an aircraft. The AMCA initiative ensures major technological transfer to the private sector, nurturing new competence in advanced composites, electronic warfare systems, and stealth manufacturing techniques. The schedule for the mid-2030s demonstrates India’s obvious determination to stay up with the United States, China, and Russia in the deployment of fifth-generation fighters.
A breakdown of the seven Indian businesses bidding on the AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft) program and their potential roles:
