The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Tuesday removed the signage of Lord Hanuman from the vertical fin of Hindustan Lead in Fighter Trainer (HLFT)-42, which was on display at the Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru. The image of Lord Hanuman with the slogan “The storm is coming” was seen on the first day of Asia’s largest air show, which took off on Monday. While the slogan was still there, the image of Lord Hanuman was conspicuously missing from the aircraft.
A HAL official told news agency PTI that the slogan was derived from India’s first Indigenous aircraft HF-24 Marut (meaning wind), adding that there was nothing specific to derive from the image of Lord Hanuman.
HAL’s Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) CB Ananthakrishnan, however, said that the development was “unintentional”.
Talking to news agency ANI, the HAL CMD said, “It was with not with any intention that it was put and it is not with any intention that it has been removed it is to see that the programme runs through successfully….This was unintentional.”
The HAL displayed for the first time the scale model HLFT-42, at Aero India. HLFT-42 is the ‘Next Gen Supersonic Trainer’ that will play a “critical role” in modern combat aircraft training with state-of-the-art avionics like Active Electronically Scanned Array, Electronic Warfare Suite, Infrared Search and Track with Fly by Wire control system, HAL said last week.
The 14th edition of Asia’s biggest aero show – Aero India 2023 was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Air Force Station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru on Monday. Some of the ground-breaking technologies include Air Defence Systems, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Aerial and Ground Precise Guided Munitions, Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, Land and Naval solutions, Avionic Systems, Air and Missile Defence Systems, and more are being featured in the show.
(With inputs from agencies)
