Aero India 2023: AMCA finishes systems-level critical design review

A visitor to the Aero India 2023 show sits in an AMCA cockpit simulator set up by the DRDO. (Janes/Akhil Kadidal)

The critical design review (CDR) of all systems for India's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) has been completed, a senior project official said.

Speaking to Janes at the Aero India 2023 show being held in Bangalore from 13 to 17 February, the project official said that the aircraft's 16 primary systems have completed the CDR. “This will allow us to complete the platform-level critical design review of the AMCA in one to two months,” the project official with India's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) said.

Sixteen aircraft systems were assessed in the systems-level CDR, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. These include hydraulics, cockpit avionics, Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM), electricals, the weapons systems, and the internal weapons bay.

When Janes last spoke to ADA in November 2022 about the project, some of the systems were still in the process of development. The agency had told Janes at the time that it was working to refine the functionality of the internal weapons bay. The official added that these technological bottlenecks have since been resolved.

ADA, which is under the Department of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), displayed a working demonstration model of the internal weapons bay during the Aero India 2023 show. This model showed the completion of the sequence of opening of the bay, missile drop, and closing of the bay over a time span of four seconds.

However, the ADA official said that the operational bay designed by ADA will be able to open, launch the weapon, and close within a fraction of a second.