Speaking on the sidelines of an event marking 25 years of the LCA Tejas flight programme, DRDO Chief Samir V. Kamat reportedly said that the AMCA is likely to be rolled out by the end of 2028. The aircraft’s first flight may take place in early 2029.
Let us look back at HAL/DRDO’s AMCA rollout projections since 2019.
In January 2021, the Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, R. Madhavan, said, “The prototype of the aircraft is likely to be ready by 2026, and its production could start by 2030.”
In September 2021, Girish S. Deodhare, Programme Director (Combat Aircraft) and Director, ADA, upped the ante by projecting a first flight in 2025.
He said, “We are moving to a critical design review by the middle of next year, with the roll-out planned in 2024 and the first flight planned in 2025.”
Dr A. K. Ghosh, Project Director of AMCA, stated during DefExpo 2022, “Once the project sanction is received, the first prototype can be rolled out in three years, and the first flight can take place one to one-and-a-half years after that.”
Considering that the AMCA project received its go-ahead in 2024, the timeline projected by Dr Ghosh would translate to a first flight by the end of 2028.
Now, the first flight is being projected in 2029.
The IAF, which has had a long association with DRDO and HAL, has remained sceptical.
When DRDO first projected the AMCA development timeline to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2019, it assured operational induction by 2035.
The IAF’s top leadership, despite its enthusiasm and wholehearted support for a home-grown stealth fighter, considered the timeline ambitious. In July 2020, the IAF euphemistically described the timeline as “very tight.”
However, senior DRDO and HAL officials ignored the IAF’s reservations.
In November 2022, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal V. R. Chaudhari, advised “prudence.” He recommended foreign tie-ups as a fallback for developing “alternative systems and sensors” in case indigenous development slipped off the timeline.
The IAF has projected to the MoD a requirement for 2-3 squadrons of an interim stealth fighter to plug the operational gap due to the absence of stealth fighters in IAF inventory.
It's time for the government to act, because the writing is on the wall
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