Inside the Eurocopter Tiger team HQ the tempo of operations is
now moving up several gears. The difficult days of times past,
when the Tiger combat helicopter was but another high-profile
European defense program with glossy technology and no budget,
are long gone. Right now the Tiger is approaching the milestone
moment when the first operational aircraft will be handed over
to the first operational users. This follows on from the recent
maiden flight of the first production HAP Tiger for the French
army air corps (ALAT) and the cementing of the first Tiger export
order for the Australian army.
The first series production HAP aircraft made its maiden flight
from Eurocopter France's Marignane facility on March 26. Its arrival
on the scene came almost exactly a year after the first production
UHT Tiger for the Germany army was rolled out at Eurocopter Germany's
sister plant in Donauwörth.
Although the HAP and UHT Tigers are based on a common airframe,
the HAP is tasked as an armed scout/escort/fire support helicopter
by the French while the UHT has been given a multirole label in
Germany. Unlike the 'lightweight' HAP, the UHT Tiger maintains
an anti-armor role, armed with HOT or TRIGAT missiles and fitted
with a mast-mounted sight. The equivalent French anti-tank variant,
the HAC Tiger, is not scheduled for introduction until much later
this decade. Unlike the UHT, the HAP is being fielded with an
integral gun and will be armed with Mistral air-to-air missiles
instead of the Stinger AAMs selected by Germany.
In July Eurocopter will hand over the first Tigers to the new
joint French/German aviation training school that has been established
at Le Luc-en-Provence, in southern France. By February 2004 the
first 10 French Tigers and the first 15 German aircraft will have
been delivered to the center.
French instructor pilot (IP) training began last year at Marignane
using the HAP-configured PT2 Tiger prototype. The series production
HAP aircraft will now be used for weapons training and qualification.
In February 2004 the five lead IPs will join the new aircraft
at Le Luc and continue their training until July, to be ready
for the first intake of ALAT Tiger students who are due in September
2004. France is pushing its training schedule ahead of Germany's
because it will field the first combat-ready Tiger unit-the ALAT's
5th RHC-in April 2006. The first batch of German IPs are due to
begin training by the end of this year.
For Australia, where the Tiger ARH is expected to be ready for
service with the 1st Aviation Regiment in June 2007, an initial
batch of 13 IPs are now undergoing their basic type training in
France. The Australian ARH armed reconnaissance helicopter configuration
is similar to that of the French HAP standard, but with modified
optronics, Hellfire anti-tank missiles and 70 mm rocket pods (replacing
the standard French 68 mm system).
The 22 Australian Tigers will also be fitted with a different
helmet-mounted sight and cockpit head-up display. Construction
of the first 'Aussie Tiger' is now underway in France with maiden
flight scheduled for February 2004. From the fifth aircraft onwards
the Tiger ARHs will all be assembled in Australia at the new Australian
Aerospace (formerly Eurocopter Pacific) facility in Brisbane.
The first pair of Australian-built Tigers should fly in late 2004,
and will be handed over to the army in December.
