India’s Largest Aviation Firm Excluded From Key Next Stage of Country’s First Fighter Program

The Indian state-owned aviation firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has been excluded from the competition to build prototypes of the country’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) stealth fighter after failing to meet technical requirements, India’s Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has confirmed. Singh said HAL “didn’t qualify on some fairly routine technical grounds which they somehow failed to meet,” although he did not disclose the specific requirements in question. The decision represents the first time that HAL has been excluded from an indigenous Indian fighter program. 

Seven consortia initially expressed interest in the AMCA prototype program, but only three were ultimately assessed as meeting the mandatory technical and financial criteria. HAL had submitted its bid in partnership with smaller firms. The competition represents a significant change in India’s approach to fighter production, as rather than assigning prototype construction directly to HAL, the Defence Ministry is seeking to establish a new industrial structure in which private-sector companies play a much larger role in the country’s combat aircraft manufacturing sector. “We wanted to create a second fighter jet production line in the country rather than putting all our eggs in one basket, as has always been the case in this country,” Singh stated regarding these efforts. 

The remaining bidders are Tata Advanced Systems, an L&T-led consortium involving Bharat Electronics and Dynamatic Technologies, and a Bharat Forge-led consortium involving BEML and Data Patterns. The successful bidder will be responsible for producing five flying prototypes and one structural test aircraft in cooperation with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which will retain design authority for the aircraft. The selected company will also be required to establish a new company within three months of receiving the contract. Under the current schedule, the first AMCA prototype is scheduled to fly in September 2028. All five flying prototypes are planned to be completed within approximately 64 months, while the program calls for the aircraft to conduct around 1,800 test sorties within 84 months.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved work to proceed on the AMCA program in May 2025, with the Defence Ministry referring to this as providing "a significant push towards enhancing India's indigenous defence capabilities and fostering a robust domestic aerospace industrial ecosystem.” The program has been under development for close to a decade, with HAL having begun the detailed design phase in February 2019. Consistent delays affecting even far less ambitious or complex programs, most notably the Tejas lightweight fourth generation fighter, have resulted in highly pessimistic projections regarding the viability of the AMCA program producing a viable fifth generation frontline fighter within the next 15 years. Only the United States and China, followed several years behind by Russia, have brought indigenous fifth generation fighters into service, with South Korea expected to be the next to do so with the KF-21 Block II.