India's AMCA fighter bid deadline extended by two months to October 30

The Aeronautical Development Agency announced that the submission cut-off for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft programme has been postponed to October 30, with bids to be opened on October 31, after industry players asked for more time. Valued at about Rs 15,000 crore, the tender invites private firms to become the Development-cumm-Production Partner for India's fifth-generation stealth fighter. Three major consortia—Tata Advanced Systems; Larsen & Toubro together with Bharat Electronics Limited, which has added Dynamatic Technologies as an exclusive partner; and a Bharat Forge-Bharat Earth Movers Limited alliance—are competing.

The winning partner must achieve the first prototype flight within 30 months of contract signing and complete 1,800 test sorties across five prototypes within 84 months. These milestones align with the Indian Air Force’s goal to field its first AMCA squadrons by the mid-2030s, starting with the Mk-1 variant powered by GE-F414 engines before moving to a more powerful Mk-2 version.