The story of our first ‘Made in India’ fighter jet, the HAL HF-24 Marut

*Paromita Das
During WWII, the German Air Force, known as the Luftwaffe, ruled the European skies with their fleet of modern and capable fighter jets.

Kurt Tank, a German Aeronautical Engineer and Test Pilot, was in charge of design development for these creations. Tank spent two decades after the war designing aircraft in other countries, including a stint in India. Kurt Tank worked for the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in the late 1950s, developing the HAL HF-24 Marut.

While many people believe that the LCA Tejas was the first and most advanced fighter jet made in India, the Marut was the first Make in India fighter jet. Not only in India, but the HAL HF-24 Marut was the first Asian jet fighter to survive the test phase and serve on active duty for nearly 25 years.

Here are some fascinating facts about the HAL HF-24 Marut:

– On June 17, 1961, the fighter jet made its maiden flight.

– The initial production On April 1, 1967, Marut was officially delivered to the IAF.

– In nearly 20 years of production, 147 HF-24 Maruts were produced.

– The Indian Air Force initially used the jet as an interceptor, but the Marut also performed numerous ground attack missions for the IAF.

– The HF024 Marut served in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, most notably in the Battle of Longewala. – Despite being designed as a supersonic combat aircraft, Marut was never able to exceed Mach 1 speed (1234 kmph). For comparison, the IAF Tejas has a top speed of 1.8 Mach (2222 kmph).

– During the late 1980s, the Maruts were gradually phased out.

– HAL produced the Marut in a variety of configurations, the majority of which were single-seater attack aircraft.

The following are some HAL HF-24 Marut Key Specifications.

Crew \s1

15.87 m in length (52 ft 1 in)

3.60 m in height (11 ft 10 in)

9.00 m Width (Wingspan) (29 ft 6 in)

(Empty) Weight: 6,195 kg (13,658 lb)

The takeoff weight is 10,908 kg (24,048 lb)

2 x Bristol Siddeley Orpheus Mk 703 turbojets, thrust 21.6 kN (4,900 lb).
At sea level, the maximum speed is 1,112 km/h (691 mph; 600 kn).

396 km combat range (246 mi, 214 nmi)