Adani ties up with MTAR Technologies for Amca stealth jet race: Sources

Seven competing entities - including HAL, the Kalyani Group, Tata, Adani, and L&T - responded to the EoI last month to qualify for building the AMCA prototype

Adani Defence & Aerospace, part of the Adani group, has tied up with Hyderabad-headquartered MTAR Technologies to vie for the ~15,000 crore contract to develop and build the prototype of India’s first stealth fighter jet, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (Amca), sources told Business Standard.

 

The consortium has not yet been officially announced. The Adani group declined to comment on the matter.

 

MTAR Technologies is a precision engineering company that designs and manufactures high-accuracy components and critical assemblies for the clean energy, nuclear, space, and defence sectors.

 

Its key customers include the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). MTAR has supplied propulsion and electro-pneumatic subsystems for Isro’s Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan missions and has executed complex assemblies for DRDO, including those used in the Agni series of missiles.

 

Last month, seven contenders responded to the expression of interest (EoI) issued in June by the Amca’s design agency, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), to shortlist Indian entities capable of developing prototypes of the stealth jet and supporting its testing and certification. The deadline for submitting responses to the EoI was September 30.

 

Other major contenders include defence public-sector undertaking (DPSU) Hindustan Aeronautics and several leading private firms — Bharat Forge (part of the Kalyani Group), Tata Advanced Systems (the Tata Group’s aerospace and defence arm), and Larsen & Toubro.

 

The EoI represents only the qualification stage. Once the responses are evaluated, ADA will issue a request for quotation to construct five Amca prototypes and one structural test specimen.

 

TASL has responded to the Amca EoI independently, sources had previously told Business Standard.

 

Bharat Forge is leading a consortium comprising BEML, a ‘Schedule A’ company under the Ministry of Defence, and private-sector defence and aerospace electronics firm Data Patterns (India).

 

L&T has announced a strategic partnership with aerospace and defence electronics DPSU, Bharat Electronics. Both companies are participating in the EoI process as a consortium.

 

Engineering solutions provider Goodluck India, defence solutions provider Axiscades Technologies, and BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram are also competing as a consortium.

 

Whichever entity wins the Amca prototype contract will be the natural choice for series production of the final platform.

 

The first flight of the Amca prototype is expected by the end of 2028 or 2029, a defence source had earlier told Business Standard. Series production is expected to begin around 2035, with the Indian Air Force likely to induct seven squadrons, totalling 126 Amca jets.