HAL removes 'Hanuman' picture from tail of HLFT-42 aircraft displayed at airshow

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Tuesday removed the image of Lord Hanuman from the tail of the HLFT-42 model aircraft on display at the Aero India 2023 event in Bengaluru. This comes a day after HAL unveiled a scale model of the Hindustan Lead in Fighter Trainer (HLFT-42), which also showcased a photograph of Lord Hanuman on the vertical fin of the trainer.

The HLFT-42 aircraft is the successor to the HAL Marut, the first indigenous aircraft. Marut is another name for wind, or 'Pawan' as it is called in Hindi. Pawan's son was Lord Hanuman and hence his image was displayed on the model aircraft. The HLFT-42 is a new generation supersonic training aircraft that will play a key role in training modern combat aircraft.

The aircraft will bridge the gap between existing trainer aircraft such as the Hawk-132 Subsonic trainer and the Mig-21, which are used to train pilots in supersonic technology. It is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics such as Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite, Infrared Search and Track (IRST) with Fly by Wire (FBW) systems.

More than 700 defense companies and delegates from 98 countries are participating in the five-day exhibition, officials said. This edition of Aero India showcases the country as an emerging hub for manufacturing military aircraft, helicopters, military equipment and new avionics. The theme of Aero India is 'Runway to a billion opportunities' and is aimed at projecting India's growth and capabilities in the defense and aerospace sectors.