FLUG REVUE June 2005: Eurocopter Tiger in service at last

June 2005

TIGER FINALLY IN SERVICE

By Karl Schwarz

On 19 April, the French President, Jacques Chirac, personally acknowledged the “striving for perfection in the training process and especially the use of the latest simulation technologies” at the École Franco-Allemande in Le Luc en Provence. 18 months after the official opening of the Tiger helicopter training centre, Colonel Alain Salendre and his team were able to present the first production examples of the Franco-German attack helicopter to Chirac and his Defence Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie.

Tiger UHT

The German Army Air Corps and the Aviation Légère de l´Armée de Terre (ALAT) had had to wait a long time for this moment. After the maiden flights of the first production examples of the German UHT (Unterstützungshubschrauber Tiger) helicopter in August 2002 and the French HAP (Hélicoptère d´Appui et de Protection) Tiger in March 2003, it had been assumed that they would be delivered in June and October 2003 respectively. Even after allowance is made for contractual modifications in the interim, there have been delays of between six months and a year. The first HAP Tiger was handed over on 18 March in Marignane, while the German Army Air Corps (Heeresflieger) received its first UHT on 6 April. The delays have meant contractual penalties against Eurocopter, although no one is prepared to provide any details about them.

Nor has much information been forthcoming up to now about the reasons for the slippage. There is talk of software problems in the weapon system. Amongst other things, the synchronisation of displays in the helmet-mounted sight and the weapons has apparently not been sufficiently accurate. On the other hand, the flight characteristics were the subject of much satisfaction. Like other complex weapon systems, the first Tigers to be delivered to the troops will have only a basic capability. According to the German Defence Ministry, the present configuration status, known as Step 1, satisfies “the requirements for the training of the instructors. The next configuration status, planned for the end of 2005, will include a fully functional UHT weapon system. Weapon-specific approval will depend on the results of the field trials.”

It seems therefore that the five UHT's expected this year will be used solely to train flying instructors. Twelve UHT's are then to be delivered in 2006, some of them going to the first operational unit, Anti-Tank Helicopter Regiment 36 of Air Mobile Brigade 1 in Fritzlar. The ALAT is expecting to take delivery of seven or eight HAP's this year and, like the Germans, will commence equipping the first operational unit (5e Régiment d´hélicoptères de combat in Pau) only next year.

Meanwhile Thales and its German partner, Rheinmetall Defence Electronics, are to significantly enhance the simulator equipment in Le Luc from 2006 and also supply the operational units. A production contract signed in Bonn on 16 March covers nine mission simulators and nine cockpit procedure trainers plus associated support systems and an option for a further eleven simulators.

As well as the two original partner states, Australia is also currently introducing the Tiger and is set to take delivery of six helicopters this year from final assembly in Brisbane. On top of this, Spain is to receive its own three HAP's over the coming months. These will be used as training machines until the Hélicoptère Appui Destruction (HAD), which will have more powerful engines, becomes available in 2010. Spain has ordered 24 of these.

The current total order tally is for 206 Tigers, including 80 each for France and Germany. Whether those countries will purchase any more is extremely doubtful. Even General François de Groesbriand, Commander of ALAT, finds it “odd that we are sticking to the target of 215 helicopters.”

NH90 delays anger Bundeswehr

Independently of the issue of numbers, the ultra-modern Tiger will bring an enormous increase in capability to all the users, replacing types like the BO 105 (German Army Air Corps) and the Gazelle with Viviane sight (ALAT). The same applies to the NH90, currently the best-seller among the military helicopters of Europe. Its performance exceeds that of the UH-1, with which the German Army and Luftwaffe are currently still having to manage, by a long margin.

New Zealand also plans to replace its 14 Iroquois with the NH90, as Defence Minister Mark Burton announced on 31 March. However, the unit numbers, price and delivery dates have still to be negotiated. At the time of going to press, negotiations were also under way in Australia, which ordered the NH90 too last autumn. Australia is to purchase a dozen helicopters. Altogether NH Industries (Eurocopter, Stork Fokker, AgustaWestland) has notched up 345 firm orders and 86 options to date.

Additional orders are highly probable, even if unlikely from the USA for the time being. There Northrop Grumman had been recruited as a partner to bid for a new Combat Search And Rescue (CSAR) helicopter. Shortly before the formal invitation to tender, however, the American company was reported to have decided not to submit a bid after all, as “some aspects of our bid would not comply with the requirements.”

Meanwhile on 18 March the new NH90 version with high cabin has begun flight trials in Marignane. In line with a request from the Swedish Armed Forces, this offers a cabin height of 1.82m (instead of 1.57m) and 2.5m3 more space. Moreover, the model is to be equipped with a new, modular mission system to be developed by Saab by 2006 and, if required, will cover the entire spectrum from troop transportation through to anti-submarine warfare. However, of the 18 helicopters ordered, only eight are to be equipped with an all-round radar.

The Swedish NH90 was the fourth production aircraft so far to take to the air after a helicopter for the German Army Air Corps (4 May 2004) and one each for Finland and Italy (both on 15 September 2004). Over 30 NH90's are currently in final assembly in Cascina Costa, Donauwörth, Marignane and at Patria in Jämsä, Finland.

The German Defence Ministry is currently expecting the first production helicopter in the configuration “light transport helicopter army” to be handed over at the end of 2005, which will mean a delay of 20 months. According to Eurocopter, the reasons for this lie with a “delay in flight test activities in the order of three months due to technical problems and longer throughput times” and to “additional, unforeseen flight test activities which have stemmed from final harmonisation of the delivery configuration and from lessons learned during the qualification process.”

Apparently new lessons have also been learned as regards the eight CSAR mission kits that the Luftwaffe is to purchase. The balancing act between the desire for the latest technology and the need, “for logistics support reasons, to largely rely on systems/equipment elements in use... have resulted in the need to review the configuration.” This should be completed in the second half of the year.

From FLUG REVUE 6/2005

Last updated 13 May 2005

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