Kieran Daly and Douglas Barrie/london
The battle for the Netherlands is over - the battle for England is about to begin. Well, not quite - the battle for the UK is already well under way, with a decision expected in early July.
The decision, of course, will determine which contender is to win the £2 billion-plus contract to fulfil Staff Target (Air) 428 for an attack helicopter to replace the British Army Air Corps Westland Lynx Mk7 in the anti-armour role.
From an initial six competitors, the field has been whittled down to three: British Aerospace/Eurocopter, with the Tiger; GEC-Marconi/Bell, with the Cobra Venom (based on the AH-1W SuperCobra); and Westland/McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (MDHS), offering the AH-64D. The Atlas CSH-2 Rooivalk, Sikorsky RAH-66 and Agusta A-129 Mangusta have all fallen.
All three remaining contenders will take the opportunity at Le Bourget to emphasise their respective sales pitches one last time before the UK Government makes it choice.
The Netherlands decision to opt for the AH-64D, despite encouragement from France and Germany to plump for the Eurocopter Tiger, has merely raised the political stakes in the UK.
Two different predictions have been made about the possible impact of the Netherlands decision.
One argument is that the UK may feel more obliged to back the pro-European lobby, to soothe the ire of those still smarting from the Netherlands' decision in favour of the USA.
The other line of reasoning is that the Netherlands, in making its choice, has merely freed the UK Ministry of Defence from any political incumbency in its decision. If the Netherlands - more committed Europeans than the UK - can buy a US product, then so can the UK, runs this argument.
Which, ever way the decision goes, it will be critical in determining the future of the UK military-helicopter sector.
Either Westland will emerge victorious, with a dedicated attack-helicopter capability under its belt, or it will find itself acting as a final-assembly subcontractor to a new entrant into the arena in the shape of either British Aerospace or GEC.
ON THE FLIGHTLINE
Gracing the Le Bourget flight-line for the first time will be that perennial survivor, the Bell Boeing V-22. Despite the best attempts of various elements of the US legislature and armed forces to kill the programme, the V-22 is to enter service with the US Marine Corps in 2001.
The USMC intends to purchase 425 MV-22s to replace the Boeing CH-46. The question, however, is whether the venerable CH-46 has got the legs to last until the V-22 arrives in the necessary numbers.
MDHS and EH Industries are positioning the utility EH101 should the USMC decide, and budgets allow, for the purchase of an interim helicopter.
Russia's helicopter manufacturers will be represented, at least by Kazan, which has the Mil Mi-28 Havoc on display. Absent from the list of aircraft, however, is Kamov with the Ka-50 Hokum. The Ka-50 continues to trickle into service with the Russian armed forces, while the design bureau is also working on a two-seat all-weather variant of its attack helicopter. Mil, meanwhile, is pushing ahead with the Mi-28N, an all-weather attack variant of the Havoc. Its ambition is to see this variant of the Mi-28 enter service alongside the Hokum. It remains to be seen, whether Russia can afford the luxury of fielding two competing attack- helicopter types.
While Denel Atlas' Rooivalk has been ruled out of the UK's attack-helicopter competition, it remains a viable contender for similar procurement programmes in countries such as India and Malaysia. Although the Rooivalk will not be on display at Paris, Atlas is certain to be trying to capitalise on its creditable performance in the UK competition.
In the military-transport arena, EH Industries will be hoping to add further success to the long-awaited Royal Air Force order for the military utility variant of the EH101. The Agusta/Westland group is now looking toward Canada's revived next-generation anti-submarine warfare (ASW)/search and rescue requirement.
European military-transport competitor NH Industries is hoping to complete the first prototype airframe of the NH90 military utility helicopter and have it in the air by the end of 1995. Five prototype aircraft are planned to cover both the tactical transport and ASW variants of the helicopter.
The imminence of the UK's choice of attack helicopter is likely to dominate the show - there will be a great deal of speculation and little hard fact - with the three contenders all arguing their particular corners. BAe and Eurocopter will play the European card for all it is worth. They will have to wait till July, however, to find out its real value.
CIVIL RESTRAINT
While the forthcoming UK decision will push the military machines at Paris into the limelight, the civil rotary-presence is this year decidedly restrained. By far the star of the show will be the MDHS MD Explorer, although Eurocopter will have the largest display. Other manufacturers, while not formally exhibiting civil machines, will be able to make them available for demonstration to potential customers.
MDHS represents a rare instance in which a major corporation - McDonnell Douglas in this case - has subsequently made a success of a business unit which it tried and failed to sell. The eight-seat Explorer has got off to a tremendous start in a marketplace wracked by recession, aided perhaps by MDHS' use of a "blue team" of operators to hone the aircraft to their requirements. The manufacturer can justifiably claim to be at the forefront in combating the long-standing challenges of noise and safety in the rotary world.
Paris represents the company's first opportunity to show off the type's low noise-levels to a wider audience than at the specialised Helicopter Association International convention earlier this year in Las Vegas. At the same time, it will be anxious to brief potential customers on the new MD600N stretched and up-rated development of the MD530N which was developed in secrecy and is due for certification in the third quarter of 1996.
Eurocopter is bringing four civil types to the show, including the all-important 5-7 seat EC135 for the flying display. The latter is scheduled for certification by the end of the year. Eurocopter will also be bringing the BK117, AS 355 Ecureuil and AS 332L2 Super Puma. All these aircraft have suffered recently from weak markets in the utility, emergency and offshore markets. Eurocopter sees, however, the possibility of some recovery this year, and more in 1996. It will also want to discuss its collaboration with China on the lighter EC120, which is due to be flown later this year.
Agusta will have an A.109 turbine-twin in the static park, and it will be the subject of keener interest than in recent years. The company is known to be working hard on a re-vamp of the A.109, possibly including some radical modifications such as a "fan-in-fin" tail-rotor, an additional engine option, and avionics improvements.
Bell Helicopter Textron is displaying two Bell 412s in emergency-medical-service configuration and one high-density example, as well as a 206L-4 LongRanger. It has followed a heavily derivative route in building its product line for the late 1990s and, in the marketplace, is frequently trying to "replace itself". There are signs that the strategy will work. The development schedules of the new types mean that they will not be available at Paris, but Bell's sales staff will not let that hinder them. The new single-turbine 407 and twin 407T, which will not be certificated until December, are sold out until mid-1997, with 140 delivery positions accounted for. The first prototype of the 206 JetRanger-derived 407 will be flown in June. Meanwhile, the prototype stretched, four-bladed Bell 430, derived from the 407, is undergoing flight-testing due to lead to certification in November this year. Production is due to start in 1996 at a rate of two a month.
EH Industries has chosen again not to bring the EH.101 to the show. It has won its lengthy struggle to ensure that the RAF takes the machine, but its battle to secure civil sales among North Sea operators is turning out to be just as protracted. Nevertheless, use of the type has the potential to transform North Sea operations, and it may be that the key requirement for partners Westland and Agusta is to formulate financial packages to assist buyers of this large machine.
Russia's rotary manufacturers are also lightly represented in the civil sector at the show. Those companies have had markedly, more success than their fixed-wing compatriots, in pushing their aircraft into global service. At Paris, however, the dual-use Mil Mi-17 will be the only such machine on view.
Despite continual promises, Kamov and Mil have yet to certificate their aircraft in the West or to use the best of Western technology to improve their economics. Nevertheless, it is hard to believe that that day will not eventually come, and they are bound to attract renewed attention.
Source: Flight International
