536.421.1 In terms of the concepts of heterogeneous nucleation and the related driving wave process, a version of the dynamic theory of the formation of martensite crystals is stated in which the wave process initiates the fastest transformation of close-packed {111} γ atomic planes of a parent fcc phase into {110} α planes of a bcc phase. The lattice parameter ratio and the orientations of habit planes are analytically related with the elastic properties of the γ -phase. Quantitative estimation performed with the use of elastic moduli for an iron-nickel alloy yields habitus orientations close to {10 3 7} γ . An experiment is proposed to verify the theoretical predictions. A new pattern of the short-wave correction that finishes the fcc-bcc rearrangement is set forth.The growth of crystals in the (γ-α) fcc-bcc martensitic transformation is a fast process with strongly pronounced indications of the first-order transition. The nucleation is heterogeneous and the growth is controlled by a driving wave process (DWP). Recall [1, 2] that a DWP which forms a plate-shaped region bounded with habit planes (HP's), carries nearly plane and nearly homogeneous threshold deformation (of the tension-compression type) on the mesoscopic scale (of the order of the crystal thickness). As a result, the HP appears to be an invariant (or slightly distorted) plane. The wave normals n 1 and n 2 of the wave beams that describe, respectively, tensile deformation (ε 1 > 0) and compressive deformation (ε 2 < 0) in the superposition region are collinear to the eigenvectors ξ i (i = 1, 2) of the deformation tensor of the elastic field of a defect in the nucleation region (DWP inherits the information on the directions of ξ i ): n 1 || ξ 1 , n 2 || ξ 2 , n 1 ⊥ n 2 | n i | = | ξ i | = ||ξ⊥|||ξ|1.(1)These processes are sketched in Fig. 1. It can easily be shown [1−3] that the normal N w to a habitus plane that is related to the propagation of a driving wave is set by the kinematic relation N w || n 2 ± n 1 ae, ae = 2where v 1 and v 2 are the moduluses of the wave velocity. On the other hand, for a tension-compression deformation the normals to invariant planes are given by