India Stealth Cruise Missile in AMCA: India is working on a new kind of stealth cruise missile that the future AMCA fighter jet can carry inside its body. People from DRDO and the Indian Air Force are holding long talks on this project, and they want the missile to stay small and quiet so enemy radars cannot spot it. Sources told idrw.org that the team wants a “subsonic precision striker” and they want it to stay hidden while the AMCA enters deep enemy areas.
Even tho many details stay secret, the plan shows that India is now ready to make its own stealth weapons as it prepares for AMCA, which may join service around 2035.
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The AMCA is a twin-engine stealth jet made by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency. The jet has internal weapon bays that can hold missiles without breaking its stealth shape.
Smaller than Nirbhay
The new missile will be much smaller than the Nirbhay cruise missile. Nirbhay carries a 450 kg warhead and flies about 1,000 km, but DRDO wants the new missile to weigh close to 1,000 kg so the AMCA can carry two of them.
The team wants it to work along with missiles like Astra Mk3. This size limit forces scientists to shrink the guidance system, engine parts and electronics. They will use what they learned from the Integrated Technology Cruise Missile tests in 2025.
The expected range stays lower than Nirbhay but still strong at about 600-700 km. This distance will help the AMCA hit targets far away while staying inside its 1,500 km combat radius. A DRDO member said, “The focus is on precision over endurance ensuring the missile fits the jet’s stealth envelope without sacrificing lethality,” and also hinted that the warhead may weigh 200-300 kg for roles like bunker attacks or hitting ships.
Engine and Stealth System
The engine of the missile will come from the Small Turbo Fan Engine made by GTRE. This engine, also called “Manik,” already works on the Nirbhay missile. It makes 4.5 kN power and flies at Mach 0.8. BrahMos Aerospace delivered 15 of these engines in June, showing the program is ready for bigger production with support from companies like Tata and Godrej.
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The missile will also look different from Nirbhay because it will use shapes and coatings that keep it hidden. The body will have sharp angles and special surfaces so radars see almost nothing. The designers want the radar cross-section to fall under 0.01 m². The missile will fly very low, around 50-100 ft, so the ground noise hides it. After launch, the missile will use Indian electronic warfare tools to trick radar systems.
It will use frequency changes chaff and changes in path using INS, GPS and IIR systems. One source said that “It’s not just invisible; it’s evasive-designed to ghost through integrated air defenses like China’s HQ-9 networks,” and the source also said the missile dodged 90% of intercepts in tests with low flight paths.
