IAF Promises Big Domestic Orders, Export Potential to Attract Private Sector Suppliers for AMCA Program

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is aiming to procure over 200 Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) in the long term, offering a significant incentive to private sector companies to join the ambitious indigenous stealth fighter program.

This commitment was highlighted during a recent supplier meeting organized by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), where IAF officials emphasized both domestic requirements and potential export opportunities.

The ADA recently issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) to private sector aerospace component suppliers, seeking their participation in the AMCA's supply chain. This initiative underscores the program's focus on building a robust domestic industrial ecosystem for the production of critical components, including airframe and structural elements.

To incentivize private sector involvement, the IAF has committed to an initial order of 40 AMCA MkI jets, followed by a larger order of 120 AMCA MkII jets as the program progresses. This long-term commitment aims to provide a stable order flow and ensure substantial returns for companies investing in the AMCA project.

The AMCA program incorporates a phased engine upgrade strategy. The MkI variant will be powered by the GE F414 engine, while the more advanced MkII will utilize a powerful 110kN-class engine currently under development in collaboration with international engine manufacturers. This approach allows the MkI to serve as a bridge to the fully indigenous MkII, which is expected to feature enhanced capabilities and advanced avionics.

Further boosting the program's attractiveness, IAF officials highlighted the potential for exporting the AMCA to friendly nations once it reaches full-rate production. This export potential could significantly expand production volumes beyond domestic requirements, offering further incentives for private sector investment.

The ADA has set an ambitious timeline for the AMCA program, with a prototype rollout targeted for the end of 2028 and initial production within five years. If this timeline is achieved, full-scale production of the AMCA MkI could commence by the early 2030s, followed by the upgraded MkII. This ambitious schedule aligns with the IAF's modernization strategy and its need to replace aging aircraft with advanced, stealth-capable platforms.

 

[R. Singh]

We should make 145+ AMCA-I for IAF and 69+ AMCA-N powered by STOVL capable Rolls Royce engine ! Scrap TEDBF program as time is now to induct 5th gen jets for our carriers !

 

[lex luther]

also need levcon and 3d thrust vector engine to high agility in himalan range

 

[sanket]

Great news for AMCA, with 200 expected to be inducted. It also strengthens the squadron numbers further by almost 2. Now private players need to show interest in the integration of the AMCA assembly line, too, apart from the vendor role. Private players should take the responsibility of building the fighter jet. I think in the long term, the number may reach 250, just like Tejas MK1A was started with 40 odd then gradually increased to end up at 220.

 

[abhinav srivastava]

By 2028 LCA mk2 will have its first flight. AMCA will take more time.

 

[tipoo2]

So make that larger order the plan from the outset, so that production lines and the supply chain of thousands of parts can be set up accordingly...Can we not repeat the mistake of the tiny chickenscratch Tejas orders again, there are zero economies of scale with the first 40 we have.

 

[Anant]

Minor correction: The 110 kN engine isn't under development yet other than some very preliminary planning.

Oh, and with that said, this is positive sign. However, the IAF should consider announcing an increased procurement plan from now only, if possible.

 

[AA AAP]

The AMCA will have great export success similarly to the Tejas. Congrat to HAL.

 

[Akhil]

IAF should go for a larger Super Sukhoi order now if they are serious about Indians jets and squad strength. There is no need for MRFA. Go for more sukhoi. Then Tejas1A and Tejas2 will start flowing followed by AMCA and Tedbf.

They are making a fool of government and Indians by trying to designate Tejas2 as LCA and not MWF because they want Rafale which btw has a huge backlog and will take even more time if they start building a new assembly line here.

P@kistan will have Gen5 jets from china when we get our Rafales. We will be quite shorthanded against an economy that's almost bankrupt ffs. Would prefer 36 su-57 or su-75 but then the issue might be with Trump administration.

 

[desigandu]

Minor correction: The 110 kN engine isn't under development yet other than some very preliminary planning.

Oh, and with that said, this is positive sign. However, the IAF should consider announcing an increased procurement plan from now only, if possible.

Hopefully say 500 AMCA jets (with some exports) in say 15-20 years, starting 2035, with significant technology enhancements every 5 odd years - can something like that be planned for and executed?
Even if the full package going forward is $200-250M per jet, it will be $100-150B program @$7.5-10B/ year!

 

[Vijigishu ( विजिग्शु )]

IAF should go for a larger Super Sukhoi order now if they are serious about Indians jets and squad strength. There is no need for MRFA. Go for more sukhoi. Then Tejas1A and Tejas2 will start flowing followed by AMCA and Tedbf.

Agree on Super Sukhoi orders. It can be executed timely and will become very potent fighter after upgrades.

I think the govt won't execute MRFA at all. At most they may buy 54-60 Rafaels directly. Govt too is relying on MK2 and AMCA i guess.

 

[Sandeep]

There is always going to be a larger requirement of over 200 AMCA jets because these will eventually replace the Sukhoi jets that we currently have. Also we will need to increase the number of squadrons we have to protect our islands as well so there is a huge demand. It’s possible they might order more jets in different batches based on technology upgrades and changes which we will need to happen.

 

[Akshat]

IAF should go for a larger Super Sukhoi order now if they are serious about Indians jets and squad strength. There is no need for MRFA. Go for more sukhoi. Then Tejas1A and Tejas2 will start flowing followed by AMCA and Tedbf.

They are making a fool of government and Indians by trying to designate Tejas2 as LCA and not MWF because they want Rafale which btw has a huge backlog and will take even more time if they start building a new assembly line here.

P@kistan will have Gen5 jets from china when we get our Rafales. We will be quite shorthanded against an economy that's almost bankrupt ffs. Would prefer 36 su-57 or su-75 but then the issue might be with Trump administration.

IAF doesn’t want any more Sukhoi. They are way too expensive and inferior to the western jets which IAF now likes to operate.

As for Su57 and Su75, even Russia don’t want them anymore. So no thanks. We trust our IAF to make the right choice.

As for mk2, if it is indeed not an LCA, then we should shut the program right away as the program was started for an LCA. If it doesn’t meet that requirement, then shut it down and don’t waste money.

 

[Dredd]

Minor correction: The 110 kN engine isn't under development yet other than some very preliminary planning.

Oh, and with that said, this is positive sign. However, the IAF should consider announcing an increased procurement plan from now only, if possible.

40 AMCA mk1 is a minuscule number, it should be ideally between 80-100. 110KN engine is almost a decade away, you can't woo a private line with only 40 numbers and expect lower price.
Even Tejas Mk1 should have been numbered around 80

 

[PKPRS]

So make that larger order the plan from the outset, so that production lines and the supply chain of thousands of parts can be set up accordingly...Can we not repeat the mistake of the tiny chickenscratch Tejas orders again, there are zero economies of scale with the first 40 we have.

They won’t place a large order until they get used to the product and know it better as is the norm with other Airforces around the World, IAF will place a larger order for MK2.

 

[Bikramjeet Goswami]

Minor correction: The 110 kN engine isn't under development yet other than some very preliminary planning.

Oh, and with that said, this is positive sign. However, the IAF should consider announcing an increased procurement plan from now only, if possible.

The IAF has tested 4-4.5 Gen fighters multiple times over 20 years and failed to find a winner. And yet here we are, the same force committing wholeheartedly to a fighter that doesn't have a flying prototype.

 

[Bikramjeet Goswami]

So make that larger order the plan from the outset, so that production lines and the supply chain of thousands of parts can be set up accordingly...Can we not repeat the mistake of the tiny chickenscratch Tejas orders again, there are zero economies of scale with the first 40 we have.

Why would anyone order something in bulk until there are assured of its quality?

 

[Akhil]

IAF doesn’t want any more Sukhoi. They are way too expensive and inferior to the western jets which IAF now likes to operate.

As for Su57 and Su75, even Russia don’t want them anymore. So no thanks. We trust our IAF to make the right choice.

As for mk2, if it is indeed not an LCA, then we should shut the program right away as the program was started for an LCA. If it doesn’t meet that requirement, then shut it down and don’t waste money.

"Lol should close the program."

Why is IAF buying Rafale then if it does not want MWF? The only reason Tejas MK2 is not assigned MWF is because it means they can't get Rafale. So the malai of import airforce will stop. No more foreign trips. And France is lovely place to visit. Better than Russia in winters for sure.

Inferior Russian jets have outperformed Western counterparts in Ukraine war. Even biggest western mouthpieces such as "Institute for study of war" (Ironic btw) are saying that Russian gains are strategic and consequential. Ofcourse also saying "Russian losses are unsustainable" from the start of war and "Russians stealing washing machines for chips" from past year.
They have mainly used Soviet T-72, Shahed and reduced second largest country in Europe by 15-25 percent without even full mobilization.
Now with Trump administration they can just consolidate their gains and negotiate. Don't know who you think won this war.

Thirdly, Sukhoi is cheaper than western counterparts. Fourthly, we have no other option for 5th Gen jet. Beggers can't be choosers.

Lastly, 5th Gen jets are not your everyday jets. They are costly to build and operate. How many of them Russia needs depends upon their strategic requirements and economy. They are buying 70+ Su-57 under sanctions and while fighting a war. It's the most produced Russian jets right now. It's very costly and are reducing costs by also buying Su-35S due to its lower cost and comparative performance but without stealth features. (Which we don't need). They have building single engine Su-75 to reduce cost based on Su-57 and also building Su-57M. So I don't know from where you read they don't want it.
Just because we read news mostly from western outlets (Bloomberg, Reuters) doesn't mean we underestimate Russia. Russia has MULTIPLE hypersonic missiles while US is failing even in development.

 

[Akhil]

Agree on Super Sukhoi orders. It can be executed timely and will become very potent fighter after upgrades.

I think the govt won't execute MRFA at all. At most they may buy 54-60 Rafaels directly. Govt too is relying on MK2 and AMCA i guess.

But 54 Rafales will come after huge Rafale backlog. So it's almost like after they build 100-200 Rafales for other countries we will start getting ours.
So the argument of short-term requirement goes out of window. Then why Rafales? We do not owe them anything. Why not Super Sukhoi, Tejas in their place. Even if HAL produces 10 Tejas (they will produce more as their new assembly lines are built and stabilize) and few Sukhois it will be faster/comparable than Rafale delivery while spending money of our defense industry. Buy a few 5th Gen jets if need be from Russia and we are very comfortable while waiting for Tejas2, AMCA, Tedbf, etc. Also MQ-9 reaper will complement our air assets. I personally think we could go for few more MQ-9 as they are not direct alternative to Tapas and give us experience for our drone programmes while being a force multiplier but they are super expensive.

I think this the best plan.

 

[tipoo2]

They won’t place a large order until they get used to the product and know it better as is the norm with other Airforces around the World, IAF will place a larger order for MK2.

I mean for the MK2, no sense in getting more F414 units, but if you want a larger order that should be planned around from the outset otherwise you never get economies of scale on small batch artisional orders like we've done with the Tejas MK1

 

[Akshat]

"Lol should close the program."

Why is IAF buying Rafale then if it does not want MWF? The only reason Tejas MK2 is not assigned MWF is because it means they can't get Rafale. So the malai of import airforce will stop. No more foreign trips. And France is lovely place to visit. Better than Russia in winters for sure.

Inferior Russian jets have outperformed Western counterparts in Ukraine war. Even biggest western mouthpieces such as "Institute for study of war" (Ironic btw) are saying that Russian gains are strategic and consequential. Ofcourse also saying "Russian losses are unsustainable" from the start of war and "Russians stealing washing machines for chips" from past year.
They have mainly used Soviet T-72, Shahed and reduced second largest country in Europe by 15-25 percent without even full mobilization.
Now with Trump administration they can just consolidate their gains and negotiate. Don't know who you think won this war.

Thirdly, Sukhoi is cheaper than western counterparts. Fourthly, we have no other option for 5th Gen jet. Beggers can't be choosers.

Lastly, 5th Gen jets are not your everyday jets. They are costly to build and operate. How many of them Russia needs depends upon their strategic requirements and economy. They are buying 70+ Su-57 under sanctions and while fighting a war. It's the most produced Russian jets right now. It's very costly and are reducing costs by also buying Su-35S due to its lower cost and comparative performance but without stealth features. (Which we don't need). They have building single engine Su-75 to reduce cost based on Su-57 and also building Su-57M. So I don't know from where you read they don't want it.
Just because we read news mostly from western outlets (Bloomberg, Reuters) doesn't mean we underestimate Russia. Russia has MULTIPLE hypersonic missiles while US is failing even in development.

Well, if as you say Mk2 is a MWF, then it simply can’t be inducted. It’s not an LCA, which was IAF’s requirement. And it won’t win MRFA, as Gripen, which is roughly the same, also lost MMRCA. So MWF Mk2 is simply useless. So have your pick.

Coming to Russia. Russia is spectacularly losing this war and the whole west is saying it. They have lost their place as the second largest weapons maker. Lakhs of Russians are dead and Russian land is under seize by Ukraine. I am not saying it, west is not saying it, but Russian government has admitted that Ukraine is sitting on Russian lands. And that’s when West has refused to even provide any of its top grade weaponry.

Coming to Sukhoi. It is far more expensive than Western jets. The cost of Su30mki for us is more than even Rafale, and that is without any of the advanced stuff like AESA radar. As for Su57, India has chosen not to buy it, so clearly we are not beggars yet. That plane is a top grade junk that even Russia is refusing to buy.

And now coming to your war argument. Russia cut down the procurement orders for Su57 by 70% well before the war even started. So no. It’s not due to sanctions and it’s not due to war. They simply don’t want it. Period.

As for their hypersonic missiles, we will believe that when they manage to take back their territory from Ukraine.

 

[PKPRS]

I mean for the MK2, no sense in getting more F414 units, but if you want a larger order that should be planned around from the outset otherwise you never get economies of scale on small batch artisional orders like we've done with the Tejas MK1

I think ADA is in a state of confusion choosing the right engine, they are going back and fourth between different engine OEM’s, most recently they looked at the option of AL-51 derivative producing 130KN thrust that is supposed to be fitted in SU-75, if everything goes right, this engine might go into every jet that India makes, so there is also a chance for locally making SU-75 for IAF and for exporting, I think the engine dust need to settle for the IAF to have confidence and to place a larger order.

 

[Akhil]

Well, if as you say Mk2 is a MWF, then it simply can’t be inducted. It’s not an LCA, which was IAF’s requirement. And it won’t win MRFA, as Gripen, which is roughly the same, also lost MMRCA. So MWF Mk2 is simply useless. So have your pick.

Coming to Russia. Russia is spectacularly losing this war and the whole west is saying it. They have lost their place as the second largest weapons maker. Lakhs of Russians are dead and Russian land is under seize by Ukraine. I am not saying it, west is not saying it, but Russian government has admitted that Ukraine is sitting on Russian lands. And that’s when West has refused to even provide any of its top grade weaponry.

Coming to Sukhoi. It is far more expensive than Western jets. The cost of Su30mki for us is more than even Rafale, and that is without any of the advanced stuff like AESA radar. As for Su57, India has chosen not to buy it, so clearly we are not beggars yet. That plane is a top grade junk that even Russia is refusing to buy.

And now coming to your war argument. Russia cut down the procurement orders for Su57 by 70% well before the war even started. So no. It’s not due to sanctions and it’s not due to war. They simply don’t want it. Period.

As for their hypersonic missiles, we will believe that when they manage to take back their territory from Ukraine.

Argument made on sentiment and not on fact is non sense. As I have said, the Su 57 is being upgraded to Su57M. To reduce the cost, single engine Su-75 is being developed.

"Russian land is is under seize". Again no fact to back this. Russia controls Cremia for years. Has Ukraine got it back? Lol.
Russia controls Donbas. Has Ukraine won it back. Atleast see latest updates before coming to a defense portal. Read Western mouth pieces such as WSJ or ISW. Even they are saying Russian latest offensive is making strategic gains. How out of touch you are! In a war, a few missiles will reach Russia too. Where is Russian land under seize? Lol. Do tell. Russia has gained Crimea, Donbas, Luhansk and few other regions such as Donetsk region. That's almost 15-25 percent of most fertile and mineral rich Ukrainian regions. Some of the most industrialised areas pre-war. Thats like India gaining Karachi, PoK. Would you also say then India is losing the war if a few missiles land in Rajastan in hypothetical scenario? And bear in mind, Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe.

Thirdly, again and argument without fact. Give source where it mentions Sukhoi is more expensive than Rafale . I see many sites mention SU30 as cheaper. So I am curious.

Haha..finally, "Tejas won't win MRFA." Do you have any proof? Any future vision? The jets are selected on geopolitics as much as technical capability. On availability, maintenance cost, ToT, weapon package, flexibility to modify. I know which jet is winning on most of them. So do tell, where is your analysis for it?