Context:
The Cabinet Committee on Security recently cleared a Rs 15,000 crore project to design and develop the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA):
- India’s 5th generation multirole fighter jet
- Technology – Stealth technology
- Nodal Agency – The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
- Manufactured by – State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
- Features –
- Advanced stealth features to avoid detection by enemy radar
- Contains a 25-tonne twin-engine aircraft – Bigger than other fighters in the Indian Air Force inventory
- Fuel & weapons – Contains a large, concealed internal fuel tank of 6.5-tonne capacity, and an internal weapons bay for a range of weapons, including indigenous weapons
- Engine – Advanced US-built GE414 engine of the 90 kilonewton (kN)
- Have a low electro-magnetic signature – Makes it difficult for enemy radar to detected it
- Have powerful sensors and new weapons – Able to register the signature of enemy aircraft and take them out
Different Generations of Jet Fighters:
- 2nd– MiG-21
- 3rd– Mirage III and MiG-23
- 4th– The French Mirage 2000, the Soviet MiG29, the American F15, and the French F16
- 5th– Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor – World’s first combat-ready fighter, joined the US Air Force in 2005
Stealth Technology:
- Also known as low observable technology
- A military technology that makes vehicles or missiles less detectable by radar or other electronic detection
- Combination of passive low observable (LO) features and active emitters such as low-probability-of-intercept radars, radios and laser designators.
Source: Indian Express
Previous Year Question
Which one of the following is the best description of ‘INS Astradharini’, that was in the news recently?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2016 Prelims]
(a) Amphibious warfare ship
(b) Nuclear-powered submarine
(c) Torpedo launch and recovery vessel
(d) Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
Answer: (c)
