India's first indigenous jet was left to die young

[acetophenol]

Today, 50 years later, the IAF has no indigenously built aircraft of any worth. The enthusiam that was associated particularly with Marut died a natural death because of a combination of two factors: import pressures in general and under-powered engines for the aircraft.

Retired IAF officers told Deccan Herald that neither Air Headquarters nor the Ministry of Defence pursued the indegenisation programme beginning with Marut manufactured by the then Hindustan Aircraft Ltd, later christened as Hindustan Aeronatics Ltd (HAL), with gusto. According to Wg Cdr (retd) Praful Bakshi, Marut’s “Achilles heel” was its engine.

“After the GNAT started flying, Kurt Tank (a German who had earlier designed the Focke-Wolf) designed the HF-24” which was a “remarkable aircraft but fell short because of the lack of a proper engine”.

After the aircraft was commissioned, three squadrons were formed and some of them saw action during the 1971 Indo-Pak war in which it took a lot of hits, as one retired IAF officer said.

At the manufacturing stage, Rolls Royce agreed to make an engine for the Marut at a cost of Rs 7 lakh per engine. But after the company’s factory in Egypt was bombed by the Israelis in an air attack the IAF re-designed the aircraft, fitting two GNAT engines on it.

“This did not help because the frame was designed for Mach 2-3 speed and the engines were grossly under-powered,” another retired IAF officer said, adding that with no significant help from western countries in developing the Marut’s engine, the plan to manufacture more of the HF-24 was dropped.

According to Wg Cdr Bakshi, “the Marut was the only aircraft which flew supersonic without an afterburner, an aspect which “our planners never gave importance to.
Besides, the defence establishment “never thought that this was a great tactical advantage. Senior personnel did not want to fly this aircraft because the worksmanship of HAL was not up to the mark,” he notes.

The IAF was “happy because nobody wanted an indigenous programme” even though the Marut could do 640 knots, fly low level with four tanks” (comparable to the American F-22).

Most retired IAF officers Deccan Herald spoke to faulted the Marut’s engine whose under-performance was the main reason why production of the aircraft was grounded.

“Imagine what a Rs 4-crore investment could have done to the aircraft”, Air Marshal (retd) S K S Ramdas said, adding: “Some of the aircraft had not even clocked 10-12 hours on the log and there was one which had logged only three hours. Only a very rich country like ours could afford such a colossal waste,” he said.

Another retired Air Marshal said that several test pilots lost their lives because of a combination of mehcanical faults, including a below par engine. The fighter plane’s reputation was marred by technical glitches, including fuel leakages and a problem with the canopy, which eventually took the life of Group Capt Suranjan Das.

After the Indo-Pak war, the government virtually stalled the IAF’s programme tilting to the seductive appeal of imports which included the procurement and operationalisation of the Russian MiG-21s which subsequently suffered because of the availability of spare parts.

Now, the aircraft lies all across India in various airfields and the authorities at Air Headquarters and HAL here look the other way because it was a source of embarrassment.

India's first indigenous jet was left to die young

 

[Break the Silence]

Hey!! thanx for sharing this important article.. After reading this.. i could belive how impotent our IAF and Defence development program bosses are!!

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Today, 50 years later, the IAF has no indigenously built aircraft of any worth. The enthusiam that was associated particularly with Marut died a natural death because of a combination of two factors: import pressures in general and under-powered engines for the aircraft.

Retired IAF officers told Deccan Herald that neither Air Headquarters nor the Ministry of Defence pursued the indegenisation programme beginning with Marut manufactured by the then Hindustan Aircraft Ltd, later christened as Hindustan Aeronatics Ltd (HAL), with gusto. According to Wg Cdr (retd) Praful Bakshi, Marut’s “Achilles heel” was its engine.

“After the GNAT started flying, Kurt Tank (a German who had earlier designed the Focke-Wolf) designed the HF-24” which was a “remarkable aircraft but fell short because of the lack of a proper engine”.

After the aircraft was commissioned, three squadrons were formed and some of them saw action during the 1971 Indo-Pak war in which it took a lot of hits, as one retired IAF officer said.

At the manufacturing stage, Rolls Royce agreed to make an engine for the Marut at a cost of Rs 7 lakh per engine. But after the company’s factory in Egypt was bombed by the Israelis in an air attack the IAF re-designed the aircraft, fitting two GNAT engines on it.

“This did not help because the frame was designed for Mach 2-3 speed and the engines were grossly under-powered,” another retired IAF officer said, adding that with no significant help from western countries in developing the Marut’s engine, the plan to manufacture more of the HF-24 was dropped.

According to Wg Cdr Bakshi, “the Marut was the only aircraft which flew supersonic without an afterburner, an aspect which “our planners never gave importance to.
Besides, the defence establishment “never thought that this was a great tactical advantage. Senior personnel did not want to fly this aircraft because the worksmanship of HAL was not up to the mark,” he notes.

The IAF was “happy because nobody wanted an indigenous programme” even though the Marut could do 640 knots, fly low level with four tanks” (comparable to the American F-22).

Most retired IAF officers Deccan Herald spoke to faulted the Marut’s engine whose under-performance was the main reason why production of the aircraft was grounded.

“Imagine what a Rs 4-crore investment could have done to the aircraft”, Air Marshal (retd) S K S Ramdas said, adding: “Some of the aircraft had not even clocked 10-12 hours on the log and there was one which had logged only three hours. Only a very rich country like ours could afford such a colossal waste,” he said.

Another retired Air Marshal said that several test pilots lost their lives because of a combination of mehcanical faults, including a below par engine. The fighter plane’s reputation was marred by technical glitches, including fuel leakages and a problem with the canopy, which eventually took the life of Group Capt Suranjan Das.
After the Indo-Pak war, the government virtually stalled the IAF’s programme tilting to the seductive appeal of imports which included the procurement and operationalisation of the Russian MiG-21s which subsequently suffered because of the availability of spare parts.

Now, the aircraft lies all across India in various airfields and the authorities at Air Headquarters and HAL here look the other way because it was a source of embarrassment.

India's first indigenous jet was left to die young

The article in Deccan Herald seems to be a belated attempt to again turn the spot light towards what was in fact a very promising project. But the correspondent in his enthusiasm (and ignorance) has made some serious errors of fact.

The first is regarding the engine (read the first underlined part). Rolls Royce never had any engine plant in Egypt, not even one that planned to make the engines for the HF-24. The correspondent in his half-wisdom is talking about the abortive plan to build a Helouan E-300 jet engine by Egypt that could conceivably used to power the aircraft. To that end one HF-24 airframe was parked in Egypt to help that project along. There was also a small Indian crew there with at least one Indian Test Pilot. That project floppedin any case and later the Israelis may have bombed the buildings into oblivion. But the engine project had "bombed" before that.

The other goof-up is about the HF-24s faults (read the second underlined part). One such fault is pinned onto the canopy. That is pure hogwash. Gp. Capt. Suranjan Das had a particular quirk. When he flew HF-24 sorties, he usually taxied out with with the canopy open (actually part-open) to the start of his take-off run. Then he used to lock the canopy before rolling for take-off. This was hardly part of the SOP for flying the aircraft. But that is how he did it. On that fateful day, Gp.Capt. Das did his usual procedure. While taking off, the canopy opened and disengaged. He lost control and crashed, losing his life in the process. Many other pilots (Test Pilots included) flew the HF-24 both in testing and in operational sorties (including wartime). But that kind of incident never ever happened to any other HF-24.

Apart from what has been said in the preceeding paras, the HF-24 was potentially a very good aircraft, even ahead of its time in some respects. However the lack of a suitable engine finished the aircraft. Otherwise it fitted the exact criteria that was used to design the S.E.P.E.C.A.T. Jaguar. Ironically when the Rolls Royce Adour engine was being designed (eventually to power the Jaguar), it was suggested as a power plant to power the Marut Mk.2. But it was too late. The die had been cast, the Marut design was being overtaken and the HF-24 Marut headed to retirement and history books.

That ended the HF saga.

 

[axisofevil]

THis is what happend when you have corrupt officials in power and inpet, stupid personnel who could not see the advantage of building upon this Indigenous plane. The common theme is corruption, as soon as we went foreign, India seriously stalled its indigenous capabiities. I hope some of us have learned the lesson here, never give up. Arjun, Tejas, Arihant, while not perfect are very important building blocks. After seeing a scumbag like General Kapoor take command and seeing the corruption he brought in, let's be more vigilant. Whatever happened to him and the Advarshi scam? You don;t hear much of that, did they sweep it under the rugs? If so, we should make it a point to being to the public front.

 

[Omega007]

A very sad story indeed.But the HF 24 was not that bad as many think.In many cases the planes returned to their base even after suffering extencive damage in 1971.

 

[tvsram1992]

Atleast now dont let Tejas go off, even IAF doesnt require them, build some them and give them atleast as close support, interceptor aircraft. We would have AMCA if we had Marut program continued.