PARIS AIR SHOW: France's Tiger poised for Afghanistan deployment

Gen Monique Legrand-Larroche, head of state helicopter programmes at national procurement agency DGA, declares: "The technical aspect is ready, but the political decision has not yet been made to engage Tiger."

Her colleague Col Pascal Point, helicopter programme co-ordination officer, general joint staff equipment division adds: "The decision to engage Tiger is of course a political one and a very important topic because it is a new helicopter. What I can say with confidence is that the helicopter is ready to be engaged due to the very important effort made by industry and the DGA programme team to prepare this helicopter."

He expects to see an initial three machines deployed if and when the commitment is made.

And DGA Tiger programme manager Maj Sophie Le Berre, a passionate advocate of the machine, confirms that it is ready to go. "There are no specific changes [required for Afghanistan] but for two years we have been preparing. We have pushed industry and many small things have been tuned on the helicopter - for example to make the communications more compatible."


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In fact the Tiger HAP has been flying with the French army's 4th Brigade for two years and developing tactics to capitalise on the type's capabilities.

Capt Bruno Cavailles, who has been involved throughout that programme, says: "The question is: does the Tiger require a new way to fight? We can now engage almost simultaneously an enemy contact and another coming from behind. We are talking about doing both with the same aircraft.

"The combat radius is almost twice what it was before. Endurance has considerably increased and so has the speed. So it is not just hit-and-run missions, but crews can complete different roles in one mission. And we are less vulnerable in some kind of engagements because of increased weapon range.

"In consequence the limit seems to be the man. The huge capabilities of the aircraft are probably going to increase the crews' tiredness. Therefore, the human factors have to be considered accurately in order to organise the deployment of this aircraft."

That is something high on the agenda of the dedicated Franco-German Tiger training school at Le Luc in southern France, known to the French as the Ecole Franco-Allemand (EFA), which is working at a frenetic tempo to turn out new pilots even before hitting full operational capacity by October this year. The centre opened in July 2003 and is building towards 350 staff by 2011. Currently it deploys five German and nine French Tigers and will eventually have 12 and eight respectively.

INCREASED ENDURANCE

Deputy commander Col Christian Fanchini says: "Fielding the Tiger is a major challenge for the armed forces of France and Germany and of the army aviation in particular.

"The main mission of EFA is to give the pilots the tactical and technical skills they will need for the missions to be carried out with this weapons system."

A small group of instructors has now completed 550h on the Tiger and all have 300h, or in some cases 450h. The school itself has clocked up more than 6,600h on the type and says it has fired more than 16,000 20mm shells and 2,395 rockets.

French pilots are ahead in weapons training because, explains Fanchini, the German machines will not have their weapons system until September this year. By the end of 2009, however, France is looking to have 16 combat-qualified crews.


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Fanchini says that crews would be ready to be deployed to Afghanistan "four to six weeks after the political decision" with industry-support agreements, notably with Thales and Sagem for its mission-planning module, already being in place.

Col Eric Merck says the French army's comprehensive simulator operation is building up its Afghan database to provide crews with increased familiarity with the theatre before deployment, and instructors praise the devices' capability to replicate the notorious brown-out conditions that routinely accompany take-offs and landings in the country. Pilots of other helicopter types undergo two weeks of dedicated simulator training for Afghanistan before deployment.

Pilots and gunners typically train in separate dome-simulators, networked together as required, and sometimes with the gunner being simulated.

DEDICATED TRADE

Merck says a growing number of the French air force instructors are NCOs who now train in the role as a dedicated trade. Their own training requires six months on generic simulator instruction followed by seven months on the Tiger. Already 18 are serving at EFA with a target of 72 by 2012. The air force is delighted with the programme and Merck says it has effectively gained three months in the progress of its overall Tiger training programme as a result.

The German objective at year-end is to have operational training underway with the 36th Army Aviation Regiment. And Spain, effectively a customer of EFA, is looking to increase its instructor force and solidify its simulator programme.

A significant difference between the French and German training programmes is that whereas German pilots are trained from the outset as potential mission commanders, French pilots are not initially qualified in that way and move up to it later.

Fanchini says: "Since the beginning of French Army aviation the pilots were trained only for piloting. In Germany and the UK there is a different philosophy - they are trained as mission commander and can do both roles. We think it could be dangerous to have the same level in the cockpit because the pilot could do more than he is really able. What is important is that the crew commander to be trained to do both tasks so he can do that."

"We train all the pilots in the front seat and then as commanders in the back seat. Then the most experienced become patrol leaders. It ensures that each man of the crew is fully aware of the mindset of the other one."

Differences between the French and German aircraft additionally mean that the simulators require a two-hour changeover if swapped between the two configurations, something the managers try to avoid.


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RAPID MOVEMENT

Meanwhile the HAD version of the Tiger, due to enter service with France and Spain in 2012, is moving rapidly ahead.The DGA's Le Berre says first flight with the uprated Rolls-Royce-Turbomeca MTR390E engine, now fitted on pre-production aircraft PS01, has passed ground tests and will fly "in the summer".

The key difference from the HAP is the version's missile equipage - Hellfire II for France and Spike ER for Spain. Le Berre says the first Hellfire launch on the HAD is due in September.

Other improvements are the laser designator required for the missiles, upgraded IFF interrogator, and enhanced composite ballistic protection for the crew. The result is a weight of 6.6t versus the 6.1t of the HAP, and the consequent 14% greater power of the engine.

France will mix its planned 40 HAPs and 40 HADs in service, and Berre says there is currently "no serious discussion" of retrofitting the HAD capability to the HAPs.