HAL removes Hanuman sticker from aircraft

A sticker of lord Hanuman was on the tail of the Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer (HLFT-42), along with the slogan ‘The Storm Is Coming’, on the inaugural day of the five-day airshow

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) put up a full-scale model of its supersonic trainer aircraft HLFT-42 at Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru. The tail had a sticker of lord Hanuman on February 13, 2023.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) removed a sticker of lord Hanuman from the scale model of Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer (HLFT), which is being developed by the PSU and is on display at its indoor pavilion at Aero India 2023.

Before & After: The sticker of lord Hanuman was removed from the tail of HAL’s supersonic trainer aircraft HLFT-42, at Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru on February 14, 2023. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

The sticker was on the tail of the aircraft, along with the slogan ‘The Storm Is Coming’, on the inaugural day of the five-day airshow. However, it was removed on February 14, the second day of the event.

When HAL Chairman & Managing Director C.B. Ananthakrishnan was asked about the intention behind putting the sticker, he explained that the intention was to show the powers of the aircraft.

“There used to be an HAL aircraft called HF-24 Marut. HLFT-42 was derived from HF-24 Marut. There is nothing specific to derive from the image,” he said.

Aero India 2023

Visuals from the biennial event in Bengaluru. | Video Credit: K. Murali Kumar & Hemanth C.S.

He added that the image was removed as the company thought that it is too premature to put any image on the aircraft tail. “We had an internal discussion, and decided to remove the sticker,” he added.