HAL AMCA
| HAL AMCA | |
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 AMCA model for wind tunnel test at Aero-India 2009 |
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| Type: | Multipurpose fighter |
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In the development |
The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), originally just referred to as "Medium Combat Aircraft", is a fighter aircraft under development by Hindustan Aeronautics for the Indian Air Force . As a stealth - multirole fighter it is the Mikoyan MiG-27 and the SEPECAT Jaguar replace, and the HAL Tejas complement in the upper performance range.
History and Development
The AMCA program is a follow-up to the LCA program from which the Tejas emerged. In August 2006, the then Indian Defense Minister applied for funding for planning studies for the further development of the Tejas. After this had been approved, in October 2008 the Indian Air Force asked the Aeronautical Development Agency, which was responsible for the LCA program, to what extent the technological experience could be further used. This resulted in the order to develop the AMCA in February 2009, with which Hindustan Aeronautics was again commissioned. The AMCA program was presented to the public for the first time in February 2009 at Aero India and is most comparable to the American F-35 Lightning II in terms of its task and mission profile . The official start of the project was on May 4th, 2009.
The AMCA project represents the most demanding armaments project of the Indian armed forces to date and is in the context of India's efforts to establish its own independent arms industry. However, this also entails massive development risks. On the one hand, India has no experience whatsoever in the field of stealth technology ; on the other hand, complex fighter aircraft such as the Russian Sukhoi Su-30 have only been imported or manufactured under license. The Tejas, on the other hand, has significantly lower technical demands. Furthermore, the AMCA program overlaps with the Russian PAK-FA program , in which India is involved. Therefore, in addition to doubts about the fundamental feasibility of the project, there are also economic concerns.
construction
The two-seat, twin-engine "Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft" has various similarities to the American F-22 Raptor . Despite the derivation from the conventional LCA program, various measures for reducing the radar reflective surface can be identified. Among other things, the weapons are carried internally and the simple rudder unit is replaced by two outwardly angled models in order to avoid 90 ° angles. Also known from the F-22 are the diamond-shaped air inlets that hide the direct view of the fan blades. The plan is to use the GTX-35VS Kaveri with thrust vector control, manufactured by GTRE, to enable the approximately 20-ton jet to fly supersonic without an afterburner (“ supercruise ”). However, since it is rather unlikely that the planned flight performance will be achieved with this, a further developed model with a reduced infrared signature should be used. In the area of avionics, there is talk of a modular system, although no further details have been given so far.
