Delivery of the last Franco-German Eurocopter Tiger anti-tank/support helicopter to the French armed forces is expected to suffer an 11-year delay, with delivery of the final helicopter not now expected until 2025, say programme managers.
Signature of the production-investment contract, giving the go-ahead to gear up for production of the first 160 Tigers is expected at the Paris air show in June. This will provide for production of 80 anti-tank UHTigers (UHTs) for the German army and a further ten HAC anti-tank variants for the French army, plus another 70 HAP combat-support variants for France. Delivery of the first UHT is planned in 2001, while the French army will receive its first HAP in 2003, but budget cuts have delayed delivery of the first HAC to France until 2011.
Export versions of the Tiger are now called the HCP (Helicopter de Combat Polyvalent). This is a hybrid machine, combining the basic helicopter with customer-specified mission equipment, and will be offered first to Turkey, when the request for proposals for up to 100 combat helicopters is released later this month.
Eurocopter has resisted French Government demands for only one production line, instead proposing that all 312 anti-tank variants required by the two countries are built in Germany (at Donauworph, near Munich), while the 115 French escort-support variants are produced at Eurocopter's Marignanne, Marseille, site. "That will be easier for exports, because France has fewer export restrictions," says Eurocopter France Tiger programme manager Manuel Torres.
According to Eurocopter, the Tiger has become "extremely competitive" since the French Government forced Eurocopter to cut programme costs by 10%. Torres estimates that the price of the UHT variant will be around DM23 million ($13.2 million). This provides for the so-called "fourth-amendment" update on the mission equipment of the basic helicopter, which adds capabilities such as the NH Industries NH90 electronic-countermeasures system, digital-map generator and global-positioning system. "We are converging fast on the final configuration," says Torres. "It will be ready before the end of the year," he adds.
Trials of the Tiger weapons system continue, with planned firings of the Mistral air-to-air missile at a C22 drone planned "before the end of the year".
Gun-firing trials also continue, with the aim of proving the Tiger weapons system capable of a "single-hit-to-kill" probability, according to Torres.
Source: Flight International
