Jitendra Jadhav, Director General of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), claimed that the fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) of India will have sixth-generation technology embedded into it.
Speaking to noted defence and aerospace journalist Anantha Krishnan M. of Tarmak Media House on the sidelines of the ongoing Aero India show in Bengaluru, where a full-scale model of the aircraft is on display, Jadhav said artificial intelligence (AI) will be a key factor in India's fifth-generation fighter jet.
The DRDO, for the first time, is showcasing a full-scale model of India’s first AMCA equipped with cutting-edge features at the India Pavilion. Conceptualised as a single-engine fighter, AMCA is expected to have a Mach 2 plus at top speed and a combat range of more than 1,600 km with a 6,500 kg fuel capacity. It will also have better situational awareness and ability to penetrate Integrated Air Defence Systems.
“This is powered by an electronic pilot of artificial intelligence. So this electronic pilot not only does a multi-sensor data fusion, but it also gives a pilot decision support, automatic target tracking, and automatic areal target tracking. A lot of algorithms has been put into the artificial intelligence and this makes AMCA one of the contemporary aircraft among all the fifth-generation aircraft, with the sixth-generation technology embedded in it,” Jadhav said.
He said AMCA was fully sanctioned by the government in April and it is currently in the design stage.
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Responding to the claims put forward by some that by the time AMCA is ready, a lot of technologies may be obsolete, Jadhav said there is a scope for adaptation of the latest sensors because of the open architecture, avionics as well as the modular airframe used in the jets.
While the induction of the aircraft is expected by 2035, he claimed that the sixth-generation technologies that would be part of AMCA will make it contemporary to the sixth-gen fighters out there.
