AMCA News:- ADA Issues EOI to Manufacture AMCA Fighter Jet Demonstrator

The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has issued an expression of interest (EOI) seeking the participation of vendors in the manufacturing of the Next Generation Technology Demonstrator(NGTD), which would demonstrate the capabilities of the basic platform out of which the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) would be derived.

HAl AMCA is a multirole combat aircraft designed for the air superiority, ground attack, bombing, intercepting, Strike and other types of roles. It combines supercruise, stealth, AESA radar, maneuverability, and advanced avionics to overcome and suppress previous generation fighter aircraft along with many ground and maritime defences.

Most notable feature about AMCA is that 100% of it’s external surface is made of Composites which has known qualities of being stealthy, strong and maintainance friendly. Unlike LCA which has 45–50% of composites, one of the highest in any 4.5 Gen aircraft.

AMCA’s primary purpose is Multi-role fighter capability which includes Air superiority mission, Attack mission, Strike role, Precision targeting, Interceptor, and Bombing mission. As AMCA is intended to replace Sepecat Jaguar and Dassault Mirage 2000 aircraft. Around 480 aircraft are estimated to be produced. Compared to aircraft it’s intended to replace, the AMCA will have a 50%-60% greater combat radius and 39% longer airframe lifespan, better avionics including a domestically produced AESA radar, and better electronic warfare, IRST, and datalink capabilities. Operational requirements also specify approx 110-125 tn of thrust provided by two engines, high-speed interception, supercruise capabilities, Thrust vectoring, Advanced stealth technology, and multirole capabilities.

The issuing if the EOI indicates

• The design phase has been completed with the 1:1 RCS test done in Bangalore.
• PMO must have given final nod for with further budget after three years of final report submission by IAF & ADA.
• AMCA was never all the time on paper and was going crucial wind tunnel, RCS test on scaled and full scaled model

Further the EoI looks quite strict with the type of manufacturer it wants for AMCA TD and quite clearly not any random Tom, dick and harry in name of “Make in India” can apply for it, afterall safety and quality is the biggest concern. Most sorted firms will be HAL Offcourse, TATA TASL , L&T and Mahindra aerospace. Though it is unknown who except HAL has all CEMILAC, AQA and NADCAP certification, even if one of them is missing the said company is out of the game. So more or less HAL will be the Final assembly agency.

The whole process is expected to require expertise in handling aerospace grade alloys with aluminium ,steel, titanium and composites, the entire external surface is to be manufactured using Carbon Fibre Composites. System integration capabilities concerning propulsion, mechanical, electrical, flight control and avionics would be key for final outfitting. The complete process from raw material procurement to final rollout of the first Technology Demonstrator is to take three and half years, the second TD would be rolled out in the next six months. ADA is aiming to complete the vibration, structural tests and the flight testing process in six years. The timelines look highly ambitious considering the technical challenges associated and one can only hope that ADA is not committing the same mistakes it committed with the GTRE in the LCA/Kaveri programme.

ADA describes NGTD(Next Gen Technology Demonstrator) as aircraft which comes with twin fin, a twin-engine configuration with horizontal tail and serpentine air intake. NGTD will use Carbon Fibre Composite Material to make up its entire external surface area. NGTD aircraft structure will be divided into various modules as shown in the first figure.

Selected vendors will be required to start final assembly and equipment integration of NGTD-1 within 3½ of executing a contract with ADA and NGTD-2 within the end of 4th year. As per Major Timeline and Activities planned out for NGTD-1 and NGTD-2 flight testing and completion of initial developmental trials need to be completed by end of 6th year.

What it signifies for entire defense aerospace scenario:

• Tejas Mk-2 MAY or MAYNOT be a reality, if it does the squad won’t go above 3–4 Squadrons. BUT AMCA WILL BE THERE AS LATE AS 2026. [IT’S NOT ME BUT THE DOCUMENT STATEMENT]
• WE AIN’T WAITING FOR FGFA ANYMORE, SO FGFA MAY OR MAYNOT BE BOUGHT, IF BOUGHT IT WILL BE A TOKEN QUANTITY.
• Extremely high participation of Local Startups and MSMEs with some new popping up too.
• LOTS AND LOTS OF PROPAGANDA ARTICLES, FB posts TO SOMEHOW DERAIL THE PROJECT.

Source:- ForceNet && Quora