Defence experts hail govt’s decision to approve AMCA Programme Execution Model, calls it a ‘game-changing step’

NAGPUR: Defence experts on Wednesday hailed the government’s decision to approve the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Programme Execution Model and called it a game-changing step for India’s defence.

Defence Expert Shiwalee Deshpande said that the decision shows the country’s and the government’s faith in the indigenisation and the Make in India defence technology.

“The government’s decision to give its manufacturing to the private players is a game-changing step. It shows the countries’ and the government’s faith in the indigenisation and the Make in India defence technology… The future wars are going to be very difficult. So this is a welcome step to increase our air power in a world where countries are developing fifth-generation and sixth-generation aircraft… Since the private and public sectors will work jointly on this project, we will get the aircraft ready quickly and as and when we require them.”

Retired Air Vice Marshal Suryakant Chintaman Chafekar said that Intelligence gathering and creating new systems are a race in the present scenario, and buying another country’s aircraft can pass on information to other countries.

“Intelligence gathering and creating new systems are a race in the present scenario. If we buy another country’s aircraft, half of the things about it, like the communication system, radar, or the frequency it uses, are known to the world,” he said.

“After the success of our air defence system in Operation Sindoor, we are on a high. Make in India has been appreciated worldwide because of our defence system… That’s why we have embarked on this (AMCA programme). However, the government fully realises that there is no way that only PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings) can take on this job. That is why they have opened it up in a big way to the private industries… Private sector involvement will give impetus to producing the fifth generation aircraft,” Chafekar added.

Calling it a bold step for the Indian Armed Forces, he said, “We have to be careful about the timeline. Our experience with Tejas was not good because the timeline could not be followed.”

On May 27, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday approved the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Programme Execution Model, a key step to boost India’s indigenous defence capabilities and strengthen the domestic aerospace industry, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in an official statement.

According to the MoD’s statement, in a significant push towards enhancing India’s indigenous defence capabilities and fostering a robust domestic aerospace industrial ecosystem, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Programme Execution Model.

The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is set to execute the programme through industry partnership.

The Execution Model approach provides equal opportunities to both the private and public sectors on a competitive basis. They can bid either independently or as a joint venture, or as a consortium. The entity/bidder should be an Indian company compliant with the laws and regulations of the country, the statement said.

This is an important step towards harnessing the indigenous expertise, capability and capacity to develop the AMCA prototype, which will be a major milestone towards Aatmanirbharta in the aerospace sector.

ADA will shortly issue an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the AMCA Development Phase, the statement added.

Following the announcement, the stock markets reacted strongly to the development, with shares of defence and related companies rising by around 6 per cent at the time of reporting.

The stocks of defence and allied sectors such as Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Cochin Shipyard, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Bharat Dynamics (BDL), BEML, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL), Ideaforge Technology, Bharat Electronics, Apollo Micro Systems, and Paras Defence and Space Technologies were up between 1 and 6 per cent.
Following the news, the Nifty India Defence index reached 8,674.05, a fresh 52-week high. (ANI)