DefExpo 2022: India's fifth-generation combat aircraft design to get done by December

India's efforts to take to the skies with the next-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft will take a massive leap in the next couple of months, with the DRDO's Aeronautical Development Agency informing that the critical design review of the AMCA is to be completed by December. 

Talking to the media persons at the DefExpo 2022, DRDO AMCA Project Director AK Ghosh said that the first prototype of the next-generation AMCA is expected to roll out in three years, and the first flight could take another year and a half.

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"This would be the first fifth-generation aircraft to go into the Indian inventory. So, in that aspect, it is special. Today, there are very few selected countries in the world that have developed fifth-generation aircraft. Our design process has been completed. We are going through an elaborate process; a lot of validation tests were done. We are currently in the process of a Critical Design Review. Once that is over, we are ready for development," Ghosh said.

Asked about the special features of the next-generation combat aircraft, the AMCA Project Director said: "The Gen (generation) of the aircraft is dependent on the time it rolls out. As time progresses, more and more new technologies and capabilities of aircraft are enhanced. Now the greatest thing about fifth-generation aircraft is stealth -- reducing radar cross-sections and other signatures. This is one of the design drivers. The airframe has been designed from the very beginning taking into account these aspects, whereas, in a fourth-generation aircraft, the airframe design is never done like that. As the fifth-generation aircraft started coming, they started borrowing certain concepts and integrating them with the concepts already developed. The AMCA is way more advanced compared to a 4.5 generation aircraft."