India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), on Wednesday (May 27, 2026), issued tender documents to three domestic companies to bid for the Rs 15,000-crore fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project to join the development agency as a production partner.
With the release of the Request for Proposal (RFP), the indigenous mega aircraft design, develop, and production project has entered a critical phase.
The tender documents were issued to the consortium of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and private firm Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL). They will compete with the consortium of Bharat Forge Limited and BEML Limited.
The AMCA project is a key initiative to boost India’s indigenous aerospace and defence sector, apart from enhancing the Indian Air Force (IAF) capabilities with modern fifth-generation combat jet to match the American F-35 and the Chinese J-20.
Only last year, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had approved the AMCA programme’s execution model that opened the project for competition on an equal footing between state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and private sector companies ambitious enough to become the next Boeing and Airbus.
Under the execution model, India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO’s) Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) would execute the AMCA project with the selected private sector firm sharing the technology development work and manufacturing of the aircraft.
In February this year, the MoD down-selected the three firms from a competition of seven companies to receive the RFP, thus eliminating HAL from the competition and for the first time, providing the private sector the opportunity to produce an advanced combat jet.
On May 15, Rajnath Singh joined Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to lay the foundation stones for the Core Integration & Flight Testing Centre of ADA for the AMCA project to come up at Puttaparthi for Rs 2,000 crore.