What happened when Nehru and a former Nazi Germany engineer built first & only India-made operational combat fighter

HF-24 Marut fighter jet | Commons

The HF-24 Marut, which could carry 1,800 kg of bombs, 100 rockets (68 mm) and four 30 mm cannons, played a role in the famous Battle of Longewala.

New Delhi: Did you know that Jawaharlal Nehru, often maligned in folklore as having let down Indian security and military, had foreseen India’s desperate need for a home-made jet fighter as far back as in early fifties, and went so far as to bring in a team of top combat plane designers from former Nazi Germany?

It was led by the legendary engineer Kurt Tank, who had designed Focke Wulf Fw 190, one of the most successful Luftwaffe fighters in the Second World War. The plane he designed for the Indian Air Force (IAF) — HF-24 Marut (HF for Hindustan Fighter and Marut, the spirit of the wind god) — is the only Indian-made combat plane to become operational yet, though with patchy results.

At a time when the IAF’s chronic combat aircraft shortages have reached alarming levels, and another political storm has broken out over a mere two-squadron purchase of Rafale, India’s first attempt at self-reliance in frontline combat aircraft-making is a story worth telling.

Bringing in the Germans

Nehru wanted India to be the first country in Asia to produce its own fighter plane. Hindustan Aircraft Limited, Bangalore (as it then was), was assigned for the project. But at that point India lacked the talent, experience, technology and necessary materials.

A half-century before outsourcing became fashionable, Nehru and his advisers did something daring for those times: They chose a German aerospace scientist who was known for designing the superstar of the Luftwaffe in Nazi Germany.

After the War, Tank, along with his team, looked for work overseas, and like many others in post-Nazi Germany, relocated to Argentina. It is from there that Nehru imported him along with his design bureau. What unfolded is a fascinating story of innovation, jugaad, and bitter-sweet experience of success and failure over the following 15 years.

Work begins

Tank was first placed in the Madras Institute of Technology. A tiny but important factoid: Among his young and promising students was a man called A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

In August 1956, Nehru had Tank and his deputy, Herr Mittelhuper, come to Bangalore to head the design team of the aircraft to be called HF-24. The IAF had wanted a supersonic, preferably Mach-2 (twice the speed of sound) jet. The duo then built everything from scratch with the help of three senior Indian designers.

Two years later, in April 1959, their first wooden mock-up was ready. In 1961 came a prototype, a mere glider, again made of wood. The prototype took its official flight in 1961, with mixed results. But it was towed with a Dakota as it had no engine.

India was far from making a fighter engine (it still is) and Tank’s jugaadu team, with much help from Indian scientists, including the late Homi Bhabha, decided to use the British Orpheus engine powering the Folland Gnat, being produced by HAL under licence.

India looked for more alternative options in the Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States. Several engines were brought, but all failed. On 1 April, 1967, HAL HF-24 Marut with two Orpheus engines was handed over to the Dagger Squadron (No. 10) of the IAF. It was underpowered, and could never break the sound barrier, except, theoretically, in dive.

There is a side story to this. In June 1966, an HF-24 Marut, which was in pre-production, was taken to Helwan in Egypt for trials with the EL-300 engine by a team of IAF test pilots and engineers. But it didn’t work, the six-day war of 1967 changed the strategic picture, and the IAF team returned in 1969, leaving the plane behind.

The failure

With underpowered engines, Marut could not match the MiG-21s or Pakistani F-104 Starfighters. It was not on the IAF’s air-to-air fighter list. The Marut was only limited to light ground attack duties. It could carry 1,800 kilograms of bombs, 100 rockets (68 mm) as well as four 30 mm cannons. Unfortunately, its design was too rickety to fire all four cannons together. The first test pilot who tried this over the Arabian Sea toppled over, crashed and died.

Maruts came to the limelight when they were used in the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, especially in the desert sector. These also played a role in the storied Battle of Longewala, along with Hawker Hunters.

Given the aircraft’s continuing limitations and non-availability of a proper engine, the IAF was never fully committed to it. Nor was there sufficient trust between IAF and their monopoly supplier HAL. It continues to date.

IAF did maintain three oversized squadrons with Maruts, one going up to an unprecedented 32 aircraft. A total of 147 Maruts were manufactured. But these were all retired in early 1980s, some pretty much sent from factory to junk stores.

Considering Marut’s performance in the war, there were talks to upgrade the fighter jets with new improved engines. However, the IAF was not keen on investing further when it had better foreign options such as the Sukhoi and MiG.

On 31 March, 1990, the last aircraft retired from the squadron. Now, Marut can only be seen as exhibits at different places in India, for example, one in Bengaluru. We have also seen one displayed in the front lawns of the Indian Air Force Mess at New Delhi’s Zakir Husain Road.

The story is both inspirational and chastening. It tells us what a nation’s determination, ambition and a leader’s vision can achieve, as well as the challenges of producing frontline military systems and India’s technology limitations.

The DRDO and HAL have been at work on the Light Combat Aircraft (now called Tejas) for more than three decades now. But, with a more relaxed global environment, it has a front-line American engine, avionics, electronics and weaponry sourced from the best in the world. Even so, it is some distance away from full operational clearance.