A full-scale model of India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft aircraft, advanced stealth fighter jet
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K
Three days after businessline first reported, Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Wednesday issued Request for Proposal (RFP) to the three shortlisted consortium to roll out the process of manufacturing of five prototypes of fifth generation indigenous Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
The bidders are — Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), which is competing independently; a consortium led by Larsen & Toubro (L&T), State-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), and Dynamatic Technologies Ltd; and another consortium of Bharat Forge, PSU BEML, and Data Patterns. Two bidders, who are part of the three consortium, confirmed to businessline that they have received the RFP but refused to share its content given the confidentiality involved in the first ever indigenous production outside the facility of Maharatna defence PSU, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, which has been the custodian of defence aerospace manufacturing in the country.
The bidders will have to respond to the RFP in three months after which the MoD will identify the production partner, said sources. The MoD in February had shortlisted final three entries to eventually select the fifth generation fighter aircraft production partner after evaluating the technical bids submitted by seven initial competitors.
The core integration of the AMCA prototype and its flight testing will take place at the upcoming facility spread across 650 acres of land at Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh. AMCA has been indigenously designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) — a lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) — which will be the lead integrator of the project.
The DRDO aims to complete the development cycle of the AMCA by 2034 so that the induction can start from the following year.
The AMCA production is poised to trigger a monumental, structural shift in India’s aerospace and defence industry as it will open a second line of manufacturing in India. But for the engine, most of the other parts like frames, avionics and payloads — will be indigenous. The AMCA will be powered by the GE-414 engines which will be manufactured in India. Negotiations between HAL and GE are at an advanced stage for licenced production in India. In case India is able to manufacture indigenous engines, later batches of the fifth generation aircraft can be retrofitted with such engines.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the AMCA Programme Execution Model on May 27, 2025. The government is moving to fill a long standing demand of the Indian Air Force to fulfil its capacity deficiency. As against the required strength of 42 squadrons, IAF is down to 30.
Published on May 27, 2026
