'Let Pakistan get J-20s': Ex-IAF chief rules out interim imports, says focus must be on AMCA
India must focus on developing countermeasures and air defence strategies to manage emerging threats, says Bhadauria
- Jun 1, 2025,
- Updated Jun 1, 2025 9:07 AM IST
Former Indian Air Force chief RKS Bhadauria on Sunday said Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will likely see the AMCA production model decision as a "setback," but stressed that the move is a much-needed shift toward creating a collaborative defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
"This announcement is really a big step towards involvement of private sector and very clearly from the government side from the Ministry of Defence, it's a big leap of faith into the capabilities of our private sector," Bhadauria told India Today following Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s approval of the AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft) Programme Execution Model.
Under the new model approved on May 27, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) will execute the AMCA programme through industry partnerships on a competitive basis. Both private and public sector companies can independently bid for the contract or form joint ventures and consortia. HAL will no longer be the default choice for manufacturing the fifth-generation fighter jet and must now compete with players like TATA, Adani, and L&T.
"HAL has been in military aircraft production for a long time. So obviously they would look at it as a setback in a sense. But I think they should look at it positively…HAL must now move forward towards this direction to work in a kind of a consortium approach with the private sector and should not hesitate to take part in consortium with the private sector leading," Bhadauria said.
Asked if India should consider importing fifth-generation fighter jets in the interim—especially as Pakistan is likely to acquire China’s J-20 or even J-35 equivalents—Bhadauria firmly ruled it out. "My answer is no. Now, the government has clearly put their faith in AMCA, and now we need to do everything as a nation to expedite the AMCA," he said.
"That cause of concern in terms of what Pakistan is going to get from China in the interim - be it J20 or J-35 - let them get these. That will be studied. What is important is in the interim how do you handle these threats and there are ways and means of tackling this threat that they will have."
Bhadauria said India must focus on developing countermeasures and air defence strategies to manage emerging threats. "We have already demonstrated our capabilities in the air defence zones… in air-to-ground precision zones in terms of standoff. So therefore we'll need to have an action plan to be able to sort this out and I think that's the way to go."
"In terms of stealth capability Pakistan is likely to get before us, we'll have to take some other measures in order to be able to detect by some means, to be able to still hold them off our borders much inside so that they are unable to launch," he said. "And should they be able to launch their cruise missiles or their standoff weapons, we are able to tackle the weapons."
Former Indian Air Force chief RKS Bhadauria on Sunday said Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will likely see the AMCA production model decision as a "setback," but stressed that the move is a much-needed shift toward creating a collaborative defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
"This announcement is really a big step towards involvement of private sector and very clearly from the government side from the Ministry of Defence, it's a big leap of faith into the capabilities of our private sector," Bhadauria told India Today following Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s approval of the AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft) Programme Execution Model.
Under the new model approved on May 27, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) will execute the AMCA programme through industry partnerships on a competitive basis. Both private and public sector companies can independently bid for the contract or form joint ventures and consortia. HAL will no longer be the default choice for manufacturing the fifth-generation fighter jet and must now compete with players like TATA, Adani, and L&T.
"HAL has been in military aircraft production for a long time. So obviously they would look at it as a setback in a sense. But I think they should look at it positively…HAL must now move forward towards this direction to work in a kind of a consortium approach with the private sector and should not hesitate to take part in consortium with the private sector leading," Bhadauria said.
Asked if India should consider importing fifth-generation fighter jets in the interim—especially as Pakistan is likely to acquire China’s J-20 or even J-35 equivalents—Bhadauria firmly ruled it out. "My answer is no. Now, the government has clearly put their faith in AMCA, and now we need to do everything as a nation to expedite the AMCA," he said.
"That cause of concern in terms of what Pakistan is going to get from China in the interim - be it J20 or J-35 - let them get these. That will be studied. What is important is in the interim how do you handle these threats and there are ways and means of tackling this threat that they will have."
Bhadauria said India must focus on developing countermeasures and air defence strategies to manage emerging threats. "We have already demonstrated our capabilities in the air defence zones… in air-to-ground precision zones in terms of standoff. So therefore we'll need to have an action plan to be able to sort this out and I think that's the way to go."
"In terms of stealth capability Pakistan is likely to get before us, we'll have to take some other measures in order to be able to detect by some means, to be able to still hold them off our borders much inside so that they are unable to launch," he said. "And should they be able to launch their cruise missiles or their standoff weapons, we are able to tackle the weapons."