Sagem Defense, The French army has carried out operational testing of the first Tiger HAP Step 2 helicopters. These aircraft are equipped by several SAFRAN Group companies, in particular Turbomeca and Sagem Défense Sécurité.
In the last week of October 2007, the fifth Combat Helicopter Regiment (5th RHC), based in Pau, tested the first Eurocopter EC665 Tiger HAP helicopters in their Step 2 configuration.
The Step 2 version is the most recent variant of the EC665, the first genuine combat helicopter to be fully designed and developed in Europe. The HAP version is dedicated to army reconnaissance, air-to-ground combat and close air support (CAS) for ground troops.
Armed with Mistral air-to-air missiles, it is also capable of taking on and destroying armed helicopters and slow planes. The twin engines for these aircraft are supplied by MTR, a joint venture between MTU, Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca.
The tactical deployment exercise (EXTA), including live firing sessions by day and night, took place at the Captieux firing range in the Landes region of south-western France. It involved the first three aircraft of this type, delivered to the 5th RHC last summer, and was carried out in parallel with the technical and operational evaluation (TOEV) that has been running since the summer with the GAMSTAT (Airmobile Group of the French Army Engineering Branch) based in Valence (Drôme region).
Testing Exercise for the Tiger
Despite the unfavorable weather conditions, and even though the conclusions remain classified, the exercise offered confirmation of the aircraft’s performance reliability and its ease of deployment from a minimally equipped base, in advance of its operational service launch due to take place towards the end of 2008.
The day-night STRIX targeting system supplied by Sagem Défense Sécurité enables the deployment of all the Tiger’s onboard weapons systems, thanks to its high precision, its stabilization qualities and its onboard optronic sensors (including an IRIS thermal camera). This allows various types of weaponry to be used: gun, rockets, Mistral air-to-air missile and laser guided missiles. The STRIX is equipped with a direct optical channel, a TV channel, an 8-12 micrometer infrared channel and a laser range-finder, or laser designator. It also comes equipped with image processing and automatic pursuit functions.
As far as the engines are concerned, maintenance managers have been impressed by the easy serviceability of the two 1300 hp MTR390-2C turbines that equip the Tiger and whose technical support on the base was covered by a Turbomeca field tech. “Apart from engine oil and kerosene, the engines of our Tigers required absolutely no attention for the entire week,” was the satisfied verdict of Captain Pourret and Lieutenant Molard, who were in charge of the support cell.
For Colonel Darricau, who commands the 5th RHC, the new helicopter clearly demonstrates that it is now – structurally – the finished article. His regiment should be at the helm, by 2010, of two Tiger squadrons, each with 8 aircraft, supported by a squadron of Gazelles and three Puma squadrons. The 5th RHC may be able to deploy a module of four Tigers on foreign missions as early as the Fall of 2008.
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