Can India's AMCA Outmaneuver Korea's KF-21 in Gulf Market?

The recent surge of diplomatic exchanges between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and South Korea has sparked speculation of a potential collaboration on the KF-21 "Boramae" fighter jet program. This development could open a significant opportunity for India's own 5th generation fighter aircraft, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

While the KF-21 is an advanced 4.5 generation fighter, it lacks an internal weapons bay, a defining characteristic of true 5th generation aircraft. Although a Block III variant with an internal bay is slated for the 2030s, this timeline aligns with the projected introduction of India's AMCA MkI, designed as a genuine 5th generation fighter from inception.

The KF-21's earlier availability may appeal to Gulf nations seeking immediate advanced capabilities. However, the AMCA, with its promise of superior stealth technology and next-generation avionics, could prove a more enduring solution.

India's Potential Role​

Indian defense officials could leverage this situation by approaching their Gulf counterparts, showcasing the AMCA's potential and proposing collaborative ventures. This could involve joint development or technology transfer agreements.

India can highlight the progress made on the AMCA program, including successful test flights and technological advancements. Emphasizing the AMCA's projected earlier availability compared to the Block III KF-21 could provide a strategic edge.

Challenges and Considerations​

While the AMCA presents a compelling alternative, India must address certain challenges. The AMCA is still under development, necessitating clear communication regarding its final capabilities and timelines.

Furthermore, India may need to overcome concerns regarding its experience in developing and deploying such complex aircraft. Partnering with established aerospace companies could enhance its credibility in this regard.

 

[Tanishq Bafila]

The problem is that we believe we are the best and there is nothing to learn from anyone. Specially DPSU's and Govt labs sell dreams ( which are actually lemons!) to MOD, that they can do anything under the sun !

Dreams of what really ? We have the best light combat jet in the world , we have the best short range anti-air missile system known as akash , we have a better tank than T90MS , we have SMART.

DPSUs are not one of the best , but I hardly remember when the GOI tries to improve the efficiency of DPSUs , i remember of this year only of DRDO and few years back of OFB

We make radars , avionics, stealth paint , missiles, fly-by-wire system during Tejas crash showed its class.

We get peanuts in R&D , Just look at the allocation of funds for AMCA prototype and to make new systems from scratch & not to forget DRDO job is to pass on the technology to private players , HAL has now become just a integrator , in LCH also it will just assemble the products in its assembly line and most of the parts will be acquired from private players

 

[Tanishq Bafila]

Why call AMCA as a true 5 gen-fighter jet when it's prototype is not even rolled out yet? As of now, on paper only AMCA is 5 gen but reality is far from realising... One can't be so sure given the bad history of India while making fighter jets. Any comparison between them are mere speculative and based on projected capabilities rather than actual performance.

We can't compare 2 different decades , We were restricted from technology accessibility in 1990's and early 2000's due to pokhran and then after US - INDIA nuclear deal we started getting access of western technology in late 2000's..

we have no private players , DPSUs were mainly doing screwdriving works , but we still made a light combat aircraft which is best in its class , we have seen the class of its fly by wire system in the Tejas crash.

Noone talks about the india's growth in economy in last 2 decades and IT growth , same started happening in the defence since last decade with skilled workers. We made a platform known as WHAP which is better than its American and brazilian counterpart , we have SMART , we make radars , missiles , Avionics and what not in a couple of years with a R&D cost like peanuts

Tejas has finally gone into serious production, we have seen how production varies from limited & serious . Our private players are matured than before...

So , kindly don't compare the progress of 2000-2010 with 2020-30

 

[Tanishq Bafila]

AMCA Mk-1 will feature limited stealth. AMCA is inspired by the F-35, which has no rear aspect radio frequency and stealth but does feature a suppressed IR signature. The AMCA will feature no rear aspect stealth – neither RF nor IR.

Engine that HAL is going to use on AMCA Mk1 doesn't have thrust vectoring capability. This will make it less super maneuvrability and also less stealth.

There are no details on the new engine whether it will have the feature of super cruise or not F414 will go into the MK1 , Mk2 will have a completely new engine specially designed for AMCA

 

[Tanishq Bafila]

Yeah, not happening. Why? The biggest reason is because KAI actually delivers stuff and the KF-21 actually exists, whereas HAL mostly delivers promises and purchase orders for samosa and chai materials, and because AMCA is still gearing up / moving towards / inching closer to / well on the way to / approaching the prototyping stage.

One more thing on one side KAI plane based on the tech of F-35 & there is little R&D done by the KAI whereas AMCA will be based on the whole R&D done by Indian DPSUs & later on this 100% knowledge will be passed on to Indian Private players during production but I can't see that happening with KF-21.

 

[LP]

With speed you are going. Amca will be reality in 3100. Maybe

 

[Pad UwU]

by the time kf21 blk3/mk3 comes it's as true 5gen.... That aircraft is truly mature enough and many who buy it earlier will be get an upgrade to from their blk1/mk1 or blk2/mk2 into the lastest blk3/mk3 5gen version that had a internal bay.... While India's AMCA will still need further testing if only if HAL and it's partners are telling truth about a initial batch can be seen in 2030🙃😹 imagine AMCA is still a prototype in paper and we don't even know if it's real aircraft prototype has a internal weapons bay, HAL is overhyping it as a f35 contender of true 5gen🙃🤭

Or are we doom to waste another funds and prescious time when it's decades delayed 🤔🧐 because of too much obsession of make in India policy for indigenization plus the addiction of ToT's whenever a foreign countries try to offer a weapons systems we are too greedy much for 100% tech transfer but we always whining about the price and we always want to pay cheaper 😹😹😹... To be honest most tech we got that other foreign companies that's sell us their thingies are not being utilize and use to improve our technology IP

 

[Pad UwU]

One more thing on one side KAI plane based on the tech of F-35 & there is little R&D done by the KAI whereas AMCA will be based on the whole R&D done by Indian DPSUs & later on this 100% knowledge will be passed on to Indian Private players during production but I can't see that happening with KF-21.

The Koreans use their brains wisely enough and efficient.... While us Indian is still malding and coping of jealousy 😹😹😹

 

[Pad UwU]

Nevertheless the fighter AMCA or KAI Boramae show case its super manoeuvrability it is no fith gen fighter jet aircraft.

AMCA or Boramae must have ,

1. Super manoeuvrability
2. Super cruise on dry thrust
3. Stealth( RAM + Radar Deflection design)
4. Internal wepons bay
5. Advance GaN AESA radar & Multi spectral radar waves reciever sensors fused and blended into aircraft body.
6. Advanced Sensor fusion with Super computing for Situational Awareness.

to be recognised as true fifth generation Fighter aircraft.

It is no fifth gen fighter aircraft even if it is on paper or on runway.
But Borame is ahead in race to AMCA .
And Bhaarath is at now in

1. USA,
2. RUSSIA,
3. CHINA,
4. JAPAN,
5. SOUTH KOREA
6. TURKEY.
7. BHAARATH.
8. PAKISTAN.
9. SWEDEN.

Position. And it is coz of our nation citizens who were mostly by Scientists ,Politicians and lastly righteous non tax payer Bhaaratheeyans.

Our most talented scientist and engineers are mostly British, European and US citizen that loves dollar and great career.... While the rest here are just doing white collar jobs🤭😹

 

[charminar_waale_ismail_bhai]

Our most talented scientist and engineers are mostly British, European and US citizen that loves dollar and great career.... While the rest here are just doing white collar jobs🤭😹

And why wouldn't they love the dollar and a great career?
They owe nothing to the government of India.
Most of them belong to general category and did not receive any government support their entire life. They persevered in the face of social discrimination and neckbreak competition to carve a niche for themselves acadeimically or financially.

All their formative years of life, their relationship with the government has been mostly transactional. So where is the inventive for the people to "Give Back"?

Why would they need to have a slightest iota of guilt for fulfiling their dreams in another country.

Let the burden of serving the governmemt of India befall those who are benificiaries of the current system of governance.

 

[desigandu]

Good goal but thinking of exports when we don’t even have a prototype is useless…

 

[desigandu]

And why wouldn't they love the dollar and a great career?
They owe nothing to the government of India.
Most of them belong to general category and did not receive any government support their entire life. They persevered in the face of social discrimination and neckbreak competition to carve a niche for themselves acadeimically or financially.

All their formative years of life, their relationship with the government has been mostly transactional. So where is the inventive for the people to "Give Back"?

Why would they need to have a slightest iota of guilt for fulfiling their dreams in another country.

Let the burden of serving the governmemt of India befall those who are benificiaries of the current system of governance.

Reservations and affirmative action of any kind is a curse and actually damages the economy long term…yes there should be incentives and hand holding of the underprivileged but the current system is bad and should be revamped…

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

lol! “ Armed forces will just to import stuff “ ! Does this comment even make sense ? If the products they want are not there and not even on the near term horizon, what are they supposed to do if not import?? Live on false promises without timelines ?

they are supposed to invest in Research and development, build domestic capability. Rather than run to foreign vendor at first sign. Just look at the navy. We bought out first carrier, but then we built our next one ourselves. It took us 13 years to do it, we lacked the necessary expertise, but we persevered and developed domestic capability. Russians would have built a carrier for us at a much cheaper price, but we built it ourselves. And now we can build a vikrant class carrier in 7 years.

 

[Sudha]

ADA not interested in joint development. Including hal. Never bother about advantages of joint development.

Joint development? ADA is for designing & HAL is assembling from parts produced by others.

 

[Pad UwU]

And why wouldn't they love the dollar and a great career?
They owe nothing to the government of India.
Most of them belong to general category and did not receive any government support their entire life. They persevered in the face of social discrimination and neckbreak competition to carve a niche for themselves acadeimically or financially.

All their formative years of life, their relationship with the government has been mostly transactional. So where is the inventive for the people to "Give Back"?

Why would they need to have a slightest iota of guilt for fulfiling their dreams in another country.

Let the burden of serving the governmemt of India befall those who are benificiaries of the current system of governance.

Who knows.... If they received any incentives or help from government when they were still underprivileged at the time before they pledge loyalty to a different country because it's provide them 💰🤑....
point is our bright minded people who is still left in India should get a nice career opportunities and nice salary from the likes of other major countries.... It'll motivate them in some ways to be honest...

hopefully our government and private sector see this simple problem IMHO 😺

 

[Tanishq Bafila]

The Koreans use their brains wisely enough and efficient.... While us Indian is still malding and coping of jealousy 😹😹😹

They used widely because they are dependent on USA on technology and defence just like UK ,Japan dependence on USA...

while countries like JAPAN , UK & even South korea are moving out of US dependence as they have now understood in recent global conflicts that US fill choose a side which will benefit them in long term , whereas they will left ISRAEL during a major conflict and later give them a candy of Some billion $ as a relief package..

AMCA will be last jet to be inducted but I will be extremely happy that but the induction time around 2035 we will have our hands on 5th technology, avionics , radar , missiles we would be making everything in india , some through DPSUs and other through private players..

China played the same trick and now they are not dependent on Russia , and soon by next decade they will get expertise on every defence product through heavy R&D budgets

 

[Sandeep]

The gulf countries are not going to buy the Korean jet which isn’t even a 5th generation jet as they already have enough of 4.5th generation jets. They would only buy the F35 if they wanted to buy any stealth jet as the USA is their major arms supplier.

India is working on the AMCA and it needs to concentrate on that. Currently they should focus on developing the prototype so we can run the tests to ensure the technology, equipment, sensors etc is working properly and safely.

 

[Mridul baruah]

The answer to the question is a big fat NO. One is a flying prototype and the other is a paper fighter.

 

[Raja Raja Cholan]

If only HAL and ADA can keep to their timeline Indian defence industries could make Tejas Mk1A, AMCA, MWF and TEDBF more appealing to potential customers. Confidence is the key aspect to any customer who is shopping for new products. So far HAL has produced 40 Tejas which has been inducted in two squadrons. While Tejas production is in snail pace it's anyone's guess when will Tejas Mk1A production ever take off. With this uncertainties and predictable timeline I really wonder when will AMCA's first flight take to the sky. ADA and HAL can forecast whatever timeline but I am always disappointed with shifting the time line. By the time India comes up with 5th gen AMCA the Koreans will be marketing their KF 21 with 5th gen features.

Even private sectors are reluctant to participate in fighter aircraft programs primarily due to shifting of timeline. To private sectors every man hours counts in their business investment. Please don't get me wrong when I talk about timeline shifting. I am not expecting ADA and HAL is to rush in their planning, designing and first flight. I am merely concerned about two aspects. First, we have two threats from both sides of India. War does not come with an invitation. If war starts with one, the other nemesis will provoke from the other side. With depleted fighter squadrons in the IAF and managing with limited assets the Indian armed forces fighting power will be stretched out and incurring heavy casualties. Heavy casualties will bring frustration to our military personnel and could demoralise the soldiers will power. This is the reason why I in my opinion I feel the defence minister and CCS should understand the consequences and listen to senior military officers from IAF and their advice and suggestions to procure MRFA fighters soon as possible. Meantime ADA and HAL can take their own time to come up with Tejas Mk2 and AMCA. Just my opinion.

 

[Pad UwU]

They used widely because they are dependent on USA on technology and defence just like UK ,Japan dependence on USA...

while countries like JAPAN , UK & even South korea are moving out of US dependence as they have now understood in recent global conflicts that US fill choose a side which will benefit them in long term , whereas they will left ISRAEL during a major conflict and later give them a candy of Some billion $ as a relief package..

AMCA will be last jet to be inducted but I will be extremely happy that but the induction time around 2035 we will have our hands on 5th technology, avionics , radar , missiles we would be making everything in india , some through DPSUs and other through private players..

China played the same trick and now they are not dependent on Russia , and soon by next decade they will get expertise on every defence product through heavy R&D budgets

Yeah they depending on US and accelerated their development because they use their brains and let uncle Sam to let them get knowledge in a faster way....
but most of our Indian brother and sister are still malding and coping because our bureaucrats are slow

 

[Devasahayam]

Only if AMCA is "Zorowared" to a prototype real soon is this question even meaningful!