AMCA - Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (HAL)

[Abdus Salem killed]

First flight 2026-7 and induction by 2035 is very reasonable. But IAF need to get their act together and upgrade the MKIs to a MUCH higher spec and go all in on LCA MK.2 ASAP (enough so that they are inducting >25/year from 2030). Ideally they’d also order an additional 2-3 SQNs each of the LCA MK1A and Rafale within the next 2 years

this would make the IAF a force to be reckoned with but of course this CAS has shown no pragmatism and only love for his MRFA fantasy

When is the first flight of lca mk -2 again ?

 

[Aniruddha Mulay]

When is the first flight of lca mk -2 again ?

Rollout: Q1 2023
First Flight: Start to Mid 2024

 

[Abdus Salem killed]

Rollout: Q1 2023
First Flight: Start to Mid 2024

Hell

 

[Abdus Salem killed]

Rollout: Q1 2023
First Flight: Start to Mid 2024

Rollout meaning ?

 

[NoobWannaLearn]

Rollout meaning ?

Prototype showcase I think

 

[johnj]

Rollout meaning ?

First assembled LCA mk2 by HAL ; for ground testing.

 

[Aditya Ballal]

AMCA Simulator at Defexpo 22.

 

[Aditya Ballal]

AMCA at Defexpo 22.

 

[Aditya Ballal]

Jigs for all Fuselages and Wing Assemblies of AMCA by VEM Technologies.

 

[MirageBlue]

Rollout meaning ?

Rollout could have multiple meanings. A prototype could be rolled out to meet a deadline - like how Boeing did with the 787 or how KAI did with the KF-21. They were unfinished however, and were stripped soon after to fit the missing equipment.

Or it could be a proper fully kitted out prototype that would soon enter ground testing.

 

[Vamsi]

 

[Tshering22]

What would happen if IAF were to hypothetically give their MRFA budget also to the AMCA team to get more resources to work on this? Can it be expedited? I am no tech expert here but just asking. Can more heads working on more aspects simultaneously get stuff done?

 

[Concard]

What would happen if IAF were to hypothetically give their MRFA budget also to the AMCA team to get more resources to work on this? Can it be expedited? I am no tech expert here but just asking. Can more heads working on more aspects simultaneously get stuff done?

No, if that was the case programs like F-35, F-22 and even the Chinese J-20 would have been finished long ago. Throwing money at the problem doesn't guarantee a solution within stipulated time. Only certain proven technologies which is already there can be completed. US gave something like $1 billion to Boeing and Lockheed to come up with an aircraft with certain specifications for their JSF competition. Lockheed came up with this in 2006.

15 December 2006 | This Day in Aviation

www.thisdayinaviation.com

That's the first test flight of F-35. They had to demonstrate vertical take off and landing and other flight characteristics.

And Boeing came up with this

Boeing X-32 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Boeing X-32 made it's first flight in 2000 and Lockheed F-35 6 years later in 2006. Yet Lockheed F-35 won JSF competition. Here is the test pilot of Boeing X -32 who explains why it lost out to F-35.

X-32's Test Pilot On Why It Lost To What Became The F-35

The Boeing X-32 is most remembered for its goofy looks, but its lead test pilot reveals why appearances can be deceiving.

www.thedrive.com

Money is sure required but that will not guarantee the product will be ready on time even more people are put to work on the development of the product.

 

[Super Flanker]

Update regarding AMCA. DRDO has started the development of an air-to-air refueling probe for AMCA. The probe will be retractable.

Spoiler

 

[Indx TechStyle]

CCS Approval for 5th Gen Fighter Aircraft Any Day Now; IAF Likely to Have 7 AMCA Squadrons Initially
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approval for the indigenous Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) — the fifth-generation twin engine fighter aircraft being developed for the Indian Air Force — is expected any day, News18 has learnt.

CCS Approval for 5th Gen Fighter Aircraft Any Day Now; IAF Likely to Have 7 AMCA Squadrons Initially© Provided by News18

Senior defence officials told News18 that the preliminary design review of the aircraft is over and an ambitious timeline of rolling it out by 2024 is being planned.

“The aircraft will roll out of the hangar within three-and-a-half years of the approval and within a year after that, it will have its first flight,” Dr AK Ghosh, project director of AMCA at Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), told News18.

A model of the AMCA was displayed at DefExpo-2022 held in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar last week.

Ghosh said the AMCA Mk1 will fly on the existing 90kN class engine (GE 414 engines from the US) and AMCA Mk2 will be powered by a stronger engine to be developed indigenously by GTRE in partnership with a foreign player.

India has not been able to successfully design and develop a jet engine for its LCA under the Kaveri programme which was sanctioned in 1989. Talks between India and France to conclude a deal for jointly developing a 125kN engine for the AMCA are at an advanced stage.

“Initially, the IAF has indicated that it requires seven squadrons of the AMCA. This can be increased in accordance to further requirement of the IAF,” he said.

When developed and inducted into the IAF, the AMCA will bring India into a select league of nations which have developed a fifth generation fighter. So far, only the US, Russia and China have developed such advanced jets — with the F-35 Lightning II, Sukhoi Su-57, J-20 Mighty Dragon in the category.

India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas is a 4.5-generation single-engine multirole aircraft.

Comparable to Global Fifth Gen Fighters

Ghosh said the AMCA will be comparable to other global fifth generation fighter jets such as American F-35 Lightning II and the Su-57 aircraft of the United States, even as the latter is in the heavyweight category. The AMCA will be in the medium weight category, which comprises 25-tonne class aircraft.

The cost of the aircraft, he said, will be determined by the package of sensors and weapons the user (IAF) seeks to have in the aircraft.

The indigenous content of the aircraft will be 75% to begin with, but the aim is to take it to 85 to 90% eventually in the years to come. The complex design of the aircraft includes an inbuilt weapons bay.

“Very shortly, we are going to initiate the development of the aircraft, and start making the prototypes. It’s a big leap from a fourth generation aircraft.”

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ambitious timeline of rolling it out by 2024 is being planned.

The aircraft will roll out of the hangar within three-and-a-half years of the approval and within a year after that, it will have its first flight

Both conflicting.
Roll out in 2024 or 2026 (first flight 2027)?

 

[NoobWannaLearn]

Both conflicting.
Roll out in 2024 or 2026 (first flight 2027)?

Read somewhere that there is no project as amca mk2? So what is the engine jv for?

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Read somewhere that there is no project as amca mk2? So what is the engine jv for?

May be where you read may be wrong?

Plans for engine JV though indeed exist, if not for AMCA Mk II/AHCA, then for self sufficiency for sure.

 

[Delta Squad]

May be where you read may be wrong?

Plans for engine JV though indeed exist, if not for AMCA Mk II/AHCA, then for self sufficiency for sure.

Defence Squad channel have reported that one of their representative have asked ADA official, and they replied that there is no program called AMCA Mk2 and ADA is separately working on sixth generation fighter program and technology under a separate project

 

[johnj]

Defence Squad channel have reported that one of their representative have asked ADA official, and they replied that there is no program called AMCA Mk2 and ADA is separately working on sixth generation fighter program and technology under a separate project

Ghosh said the AMCA Mk1 will fly on the existing 90kN class engine (GE 414 engines from the US) and AMCA Mk2 will be powered by a stronger engine to be developed indigenously by GTRE in partnership with a foreign player.
Except ''Defence Squad channel'' everyone knows AMCA having 2 versions, AMCA Mk1 & AMCA Mk2.
There is a lots of difference b/w two, one is 5- gen fighter & other is 5.5 gen fighter. Mk2 is more stealthier, advanced engines,more advanced EW, 360 degree DAS etc....
Without engine, there is no sixth generation fighter program, means''[ ADA is separately working on sixth generation fighter program and technology under a separate project]'' its 5.5gen pgrm, ie AMCA mk2, which include some basic 6th gen features.