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Amid the push by the US to sell its F-35 fighter jet, India is focusing on boosting the involvement of the private sector in its Indigenous fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project to ensure its timely completion.
A committee has been formed by the Defence Ministry under Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh to look at enhancing the role of the private sector in making the indigenous fifth-generation fighter jets, defence officials said here. The Committee has members from the Air Force and the aerospace public sector unit Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), they said. The government is looking at multiple models of enhancing the private sector in which one is to have a joint venture with the HAL and a private sector firm. Another one is to have the private sector only as a partner for design and development but looking at the experience of the HAL in aerospace manufacturing, it would be difficult to ignore the public sector unit. Apart from HAL, the only firm that has some experience in aircraft integration is the Tata Group which is working with Airbus for assembling C-295 transport aircraft in the country. HAL is already outsourcing a significant amount of work to the private sector for jets, which includes orders for L&T, Godrej and Azad Engineering, among others. Earlier, India's indigenous fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) was displayed at the five-day-long Aero India 2025 show in Bengaluru. The aircraft was designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) for the use of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Aero India 2025, Asia's top aerospace exhibition took place from February 10 to 14 at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru. The 25-ton aircraft would have manned and unmanned teaming capabilities. The AI-powered electronic pilot comprises multi-sensor data fusion to enhance situational awareness, a pilot decision support system, an automatic target identification system, and a combined vision system for navigation in poor visibility conditions. According to the ADA, the implementation of AI in AMCA aircraft will boost the ADA in progressing the development activities. It will also allow the AMCA aircraft to enhance operational capabilities making AMCA one of the most advanced 5th generation fighter aircraft among the contemporary aircraft. (ANI)
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