In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Nirmala Sitharaman said the feasibility study for the programme has been already completed.

India is planning to launch a programme to develop a stealth fighter named Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), according to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, she said the feasibility study for the programme has been already completed.

“The Indian Air Force suggested Aeronautical Development Agency of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to initiate AMCA technology demonstration phase before launching full scale engineering development,” she said. The state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has already developed a range of military choppers besides a Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) called Tejas.

Responding to a separate question, the minister said ‘training maps’ being used in an Army course were recovered from a photocopy shop in Bareilly Cantonment in Uttar Pradesh and an FIR has already been been registered into the case.

“An FIR has been registered in January, 2018, under section 5 of Official Secret Act, 1923 at Police Station in Bareilly,” she said.

Replying to another question, she said necessary instructions on use of social media by serving defence personnel have been promulgated which list out the do’s and don’ts.