NEW DELHI – The Indian Air Force (IAF) is dreaming of an indigenous builtfifth generation stealth fighter Jet while it has failed to develop a 2.5generation Tejas fighter jet.
India has been struggling to develop the Tejas fighter jet for last 4decades but till now only 5 aircraft have been developed so far.
IAF is likely to start the process of inviting foreign military contractorsto build fighter jets in the country under the government’s Make in Indiaplan in the next four weeks , a person familiar with the project said.
This multi-billion-dollar project to build 114 jets will be “directlylinked” to the development of an indigenous futuristic stealth fighter –the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), the person added.
The air force plans to issue a request for information (RFI) beforeDefExpo-2018 — a military systems exhibition by the defence ministry —opens in Chennai on April 11.
“The document will not specify the number of engines the jets should have,leaving the field open for makers of both single- and twin-engine planes,”said the person who asked not to be named.
An earlier plan involved pursuing two separate projects to buildsingle-engine and twin-engine fighters in India but that distinction hasbeen discarded now.