Hindustan Aeronautics Limited knocked out of stealth jet race

NEW new delhi: Hindustan astronautics modified (HAL) has been knocked come out of the rush to develop India’s fifth-generation stealth fighter jet or the AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft) programme, the first time that the state-run aircraft maker will not be involved in one of the country’s most significant military projects, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.Of the seven consortia of public and private sector firms that bid for the programme last year, three have met the mandatory criteria and progressed to the next stage of the evaluation process involving the submission of cost bids for building five AMCA prototypes and one structural test specimen, the officials added, asking not to be named.HAL bid for the programme with two smaller firms that did not meet the mandatory criteria, HT has learnt. The names of the three players that will be issued requests for proposal for submitting their cost bids were not immediately known. The contract is expected to be awarded to the lowest bidder in three months.Apart from HAL, those competing for the programme included Tata Advanced Systems Limited, Adani Defence and Aerospace, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Goodluck India along with BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd and Axiscades Technologies, and Bharat Forge Ltd in partnership with BEML Ltd and Data Patterns.The firms had responded to a call for expressions of interest (EoI) last June by the DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to shortlist companies capable of building prototypes, supporting flight test and certification of the indigenous stealth fighter.ADA invited EoI for the AMCA programme weeks after the defence ministry unveiled its long-awaited plan to fast-track the development of the stealth fighter and announced that the execution model will be competitive and provide equal opportunities to public and private sector firms.The approval of the industry partnership model last year by defence minister Rajnath Singh came at a critical moment as HAL, the sole manufacturer of fighter jets in the country, was until then believed to be the frontrunner for the programme.The seven entities were first evaluated by a committee of senior DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) officials and its findings were reviewed by a panel headed by defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh.ADA is executing the programme through industry partnership. The EoI laid down that shortlisted firms must be capable of setting up a manufacturing facility for the series production of AMCA, and the duration of the contract for development, prototyping, flight test and certification should not exceed eight years.The first prototype is expected to make its maiden flight in 2029, and AMCA’s development is likely to be completed by 2034 before it enters production a year later, as previously reported by HT.Speeding up the AMCA programme is critical as China has already deployed the J-20 fifth-generation fighters, is rolling out the J-35 stealth fighters that Pakistan is looking at buying, and has tested two so-called sixth-generation platforms designated J-36 and J-50.In 2024, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved the AMCA’s design and prototype development at a cost of around ₹15,000 crore. IAF’s modernisation map envisages the deployment of around 120 stealth fighters (six squadrons) 2035 onwards, with the advanced planes forming an important element of future air combat.The first two squadrons will consist of the Mk-1 version powered by the American F-414 engines, while the rest will have the more advanced Mk-2 version equipped with an even more powerful engine to be built in India with French collaboration.The government is likely to soon approve a joint project involving French firm Safran and India’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a lab under DRDO, to develop and produce a 120-kilonewton thrust class engine to power AMCA. The Safran-GTRE combine, HT learns, will develop nine prototypes in a time frame of 12 years, with 100% transfer of technology and intellectual property rights to India.The EoI for AMCA stated that an applicant may be a single company, joint venture or a consortium. The qualifying terms and conditions related to the financial performance of companies in the EoI issued by ADA are such that it will be very tricky for HAL to go it alone, HAL chief DK Sunil said in an interview to HT last year.“There are clauses that have loaded the dice against HAL. The EoI says if a company’s order book is three times its turnover, then it will get zero marks. In HAL’s case, it is almost 8X. It means someone who has fewer orders will get more marks. I don’t know why they have done this. Still, we will go with some partnerships and pursue the project,” Sunil said at the time.Hal officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were not aware of the matter.