In 1956 India decided to design and develop a supersonic fighter, the HF-24 Marut. It was agreed with Egypt that India would develop the air frame and Egypt would jointly develop the jet engine with India. The IAF wanted it to be a twin-engine supersonic fighter with Mach 2.0 speed.

The mistake was that world over aircraft were designed around a proven engine. The user would first decide on the class of the fighter, say 10 or 15 tons and select a suitable, tested and reliable engine with the required thrust and then design the airframe around it with weight to spare and space to cater for later developments. Our designers placed the cart before the horse - they went about designing the plane with no suitable engine in mind.

In the 1960s, the very successful 'Sabre killer' Gnat was inducted into the IAF. It was powered by a Rolls Royce Orpheus 703 engine with dry thrust of 20.9 kN (??). Rolls Royce was also developing an improved version of the engine that would provide a thrust of 35.6 kN to power the improved Gnat for the RAF. When the RAF decided not to go for the improved Gnat, the Rolls Royce project was also in limbo. Rolls Royce offered to jointly develop it with India for the HF-24 for a reported cost of $3 mn. This option was rejected. Meanwhile, the Eqyptian effort to produce a suitable engine for the HF-24 Marut failed. India looked at the Russian Tumansky engine, which was suitable, but rejected it on flimsy grounds.

With no other choice, the HF-24 Marut got the Orpheus 703, which was being assembled in India for the Gnat. It was the death knell of the HF-24 Marut. It remained underpowered and was phased out, all because of lack of synergy and understanding between the military, bureaucracy, politicians and scientists.