The 6,000kg Tiger can only carry eight missiles. "If the Germans opted for this system and they were really concentrating on having the best anti-tank helicopter possible, then eight missiles is enough for this type of mission," he says.
The need to fly in hot, sandy conditions, such as those in Africa, means the Tiger's initial design took these parameters into account. Given forthcoming competitions in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Spain, Eurocopter is also working on an upgrade of Tiger's transmission to help maintain performance levels in hot-and-high environments. "Because power diminishes with heat, we need a more powerful gearbox," says Eurocopter.
Tiger is equipped with twin 960kW (1,285shp)-rated MTU/Turbomeca/Rolls-Royce MTR390 turboshafts, designed specifically for the helicopter.
De Larocque says the additional power will not require any strengthening of the airframe structure or other dynamics components. The vast bulk of the helicopter's structure is either carbon/carbon or carbon/Kevlar composites for added strength and reduced weight. The design also lends itself to future deployments at sea aboard helicopter carriers without any modifications. "The composite materials mean it will not corrode, and the initial design took this requirement into account. So it has all the necessary tie-down points," de Larocque adds.
The aircraft's sensors were adapted in 1989 early in the design phase, to take account of new developments, notably in the EO/IR field. "There is no radar aboard, which makes the Tiger totally passive," says de Larocque. "We opted for a man-in-the-loop system: the pilot always has to check what it is he's shooting at, thus no radar." A radar could be added if required.
Other additions being considered for the Tiger include an automatic target-detection and classification system to process ground and aerial threats, while Lockheed Martin is in talks with Eurocopter to offer its Hawkeye Target Sight System, which includes a third-generation mid-wave forward looking infrared image. Tecnobi of Spain is also working on developing a new mast-mounted 360û azimuth infrared system, which could interest the French army," says Eurocopter.
The Tiger programme has had a slow gestation, second perhaps only to the Boeing SikorskyRAH-66 Comanche, and lost to the Boeing Apache in several key early contests, notably the Netherlands and the UK in 1995. "These markets were lost because the Tiger was not mature, and we had no sales contracts at all for them, not even with France and Germany," says de Larocque. The situation today is different, with domestic and Australian orders in hand for 182 machines, with the hope that other orders will begin to flow in.
Source: Flight International
