In its anti-tank guise, the Tiger's weapons system centres on the long-range version of the three-nation Trigat fire-and-forget missile (see box). Up to eight Trigat or HOT anti-tank missiles can be carried, while for self-defence against other helicopters, up to four Stinger (for Germany) or Mistral (for France) air-to-air missiles, will be available.
The main target observation, acquisition and firing device is the mast-mounted Osiris sight, development of which is led by Aerospatiale Missiles, along with Sfim (stabilised platform), the French/German SAT consortium (forward-looking infra-red radar), Marconi (TV sight), laser rangefinder and missile-tracking unit.
For piloting, the principal sensor is the ECD-supplied pilot-sensor unit platform, based around an infra red camera (using the same charged coupled-device technology as the Trigat system) from SAT. The nose-mounted thermal imager has a 40° by 30° field-of-view (FOV), and is derived from the Osiris imager. The pilot can also use the wide FOV gunner's sight for night flying. Sextant Avionique, developed helmet mounted displays (HMD) provide air-to-air sighting for both crew members in the French HAC (German and possible UK versions will probably use the UK's GEC-Marconi-designed HMD), while head-up operation is provided by overlaying flight symbology onto the HMD forward-looking infra-red image.
Air-to-air weapons management is carried out mainly through controls on both sets of collective and cyclic sticks, while for anti-tank work, the gunner has two extra grips, using images from the MMS delivered to a separate display.
Source: Flight International
