Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft: News & Discussion - 30 August 2019

[Cain Marko]

Isn't it a bad idea, none of the indian fighters have side-stick.
At least the pilots from Tejas family could interchangeably operate the aircrafts, if all Tejas fighters had center-stick.

Though side-stick has its own advantages especially high-G flight regimes and contributes to better ergonomics, South Korea still opted for Center Stick (similar to F/A-18/ F-15 lineage) by prioritizing pilot familiarity for KF-21 Boramae.

side stick or centre stick.. a couple of ex fighter pilots discuss Su 57 centre stick with F22 side stick @0500.

Fighter Pilots React to SU-57 Felon Engines and Cockpit

Real fighter pilots react to SU-57 Felon Engines and cockpit.

These guys are so full of it, makes me laugh. With all the side stick and clutterless hitech layout. They got there ass handed to them by the mki in almost every instance they met up.

The pakfa platform, like the flanker, is ahead of their f35 in almost every regard, and possibly the f22as well . If they think that a test article engine is going to have full stealth skin, I don't know what to say, but they're being disengenuous. Moreover, the Russians seems to have figured that it's no point in going all out on stealth because in real world situations, with long range head to head face offs, front sector is more important. The rear or sides are going to be seen by today's high powered radar in all likelihood, so they prefer to have a mech 2 bird that most missiles will have a hard time catching up with in an ever receding chase mode.

Chutiya mat banao.

There are many ways to skin a cat and the Russians have been doing it quite well. When India gets this platform and mkizes it, the iaf will have it's own way.

As far as m concerned, the pakfa with izd30 and mkizayion will be an absolute beast. Probably the best piece of kit in the sky.

[uddu]

Indian Engineering Firms Missing AMCA Prime Contract Can Still Secure Tier-II and Tier-III Roles, Confirms MoD
https://defence.in/threads/indian-engin ... mod.16873/
12 Feb 2026

The primary goal of the current selection process is to identify a Tier-I development and production partner to act as the lead systems integrator. However, the architecture of the programme explicitly preserves substantial roles for other capable firms at the Tier-II and Tier-III levels. This layered approach is necessitated by the extreme technical complexity of fifth-generation fighter engineering, which is not a linear manufacturing task but a distributed enterprise. The AMCA requires expertise spanning advanced stealth composites, avionics fusion, mission computing, and precision airframe fabrication. No single company is expected to possess in-house capabilities for every domain.

Consequently, the programme anticipates a collaborative supply chain where specialized firms deliver critical subsystems and high-precision assemblies. By formally encouraging Tier-II and Tier-III participation, defence planners are seeding a long-term industrial pipeline capable of supporting an expanding aerospace portfolio. Companies that do not secure the lead integrator role will not be sidelined; instead, their capital investments and technical expertise will be absorbed into the wider production chain to ensure redundancy and surge capacity.

[Rakesh]

AMCA: Why L1 Approaches Can Fail Combat Aircraft Development
https://radmsudhirpillai.substack.com/p ... ail-combat
08 Feb 2026