The HF-24 Marut, India, and the Indigenization of Western High Technology
Presenter Status
Independent Scholar
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Session
A
Location
Chan Shun 108
Start Date
18-5-2017 9:00 AM
End Date
18-5-2017 9:20 AM
Presentation Abstract
For ten years (1957 - 1967), the Indian government worked to create a high-performance fighter jet of domestic design and manufacture. In the early decades after winning independence from the British Empire in 1957, India tried to make its economy self-reliant by setting up industries to produce domestic substitutes for goods that would otherwise have to be imported. The HF-24 Marut indigenous jet fighter project was one of the government’s more ambitious import-substitution programs. Designed by a joint German-Indian team, it was manufactured at the government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. plant in Bangalore. As a fighter aircraft, the HF-24 was moderately successful. In 1971, HF-24s scored a few kills against Pakistani fighters in the war over Bangladesh. Yet as a weapon in India’s war of economic independence, the HF-24 was not successful at all. The project suffered repeated delays, and the plane that was finally produced was underpowered for want of a suitable engine. As the Indian government was waiting for the large quantities of HF-24s that never materialized, they imported Russian-made fighters. This paper views the HF-24 Marut as a case study of the limits of technology transfer for sophisticated, capital-intensive technologies.
Biographical Sketch
William Logan completed his PhD in the History of Technology program at Auburn University in 2016. His dissertation was about Indian industrialization during the Cold War. As part of his graduate studies, he spent extensive time in India, and he can speak, read, and write Hindi. Before studying history in graduate school, William earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Walla Walla University. His technical training continues to influence the way he thinks about technology as a historian.
The HF-24 Marut, India, and the Indigenization of Western High Technology
Chan Shun 108
For ten years (1957 - 1967), the Indian government worked to create a high-performance fighter jet of domestic design and manufacture. In the early decades after winning independence from the British Empire in 1957, India tried to make its economy self-reliant by setting up industries to produce domestic substitutes for goods that would otherwise have to be imported. The HF-24 Marut indigenous jet fighter project was one of the government’s more ambitious import-substitution programs. Designed by a joint German-Indian team, it was manufactured at the government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. plant in Bangalore. As a fighter aircraft, the HF-24 was moderately successful. In 1971, HF-24s scored a few kills against Pakistani fighters in the war over Bangladesh. Yet as a weapon in India’s war of economic independence, the HF-24 was not successful at all. The project suffered repeated delays, and the plane that was finally produced was underpowered for want of a suitable engine. As the Indian government was waiting for the large quantities of HF-24s that never materialized, they imported Russian-made fighters. This paper views the HF-24 Marut as a case study of the limits of technology transfer for sophisticated, capital-intensive technologies.
Acknowledgements
Research partly funded by Samuel Flagg Bemis Dissertation Research Grant from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2015.