HAL knocked out of stealth jet race

{ INDIA'S FIFTH-GEN FIGHTER

- Rahul Singh

NEW DELHI: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been knocked out of the race to develop India’s fifth-generation stealth fighter jet or the AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft) programme, the first time that the state-run aircraft maker will not be involved in one of the country’s most significant military projects, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

Of the seven consortia of public and private sector firms that bid for the programme last year, three have met the mandatory criteria and progressed to the next stage of the evaluation process involving the submission of cost bids for building five AMCA prototypes and one structural test specimen, the officials added, asking not to be named.

HAL bid for the programme with two smaller firms that did not meet the mandatory criteria, HT has learnt. The names of the three players that will be issued requests for proposal for submitting their cost bids were not immediately known. The contract is expected to be awarded to the lowest bidder in three months.

Apart from HAL, those competing for the programme included Tata Advanced Systems Limited, Adani Defence and Aerospace, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Goodluck India along with BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd and Axiscades Technologies, and Bharat Forge Ltd in partnership with BEML Ltd and Data Patterns.