Upgrade Program Aims to Create Euro Attack Helicopter

Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation awarded a contract to Airbus Helicopters for the development, production, and initial in-service support of the Tiger MkIII attack helicopter upgrade program. 

The org represents a series of Spanish and French armament stakeholders, allowing both countries to avail themselves of cost benefits and economies of scale only available through a joint project. The contract to modernize the Tiger includes the upgrade of 42 French helicopters, with an additional option for 25, and 18 for Spain. The contract also contains a possible addition in the future, should Germany choose to upgrade to the MKIII. 

The upgrade sees enhancements to agility, survivability, and profile visibility, as well as digital communications systems integration for future manned/unmanned teaming. Additional weapons packages and support framework are added, allowing for a plethora of additional weaponry, as well as enhanced targeting and navigation. The forward-looking enhancements will hopefully result in a system that weathers the coming years gracefully, with better "real-time sharing of threats, mission data, and situational awareness" using newer avionics and ISR equipment. 

Airbus says the upgraded Tiger will offer a European attack helicopter option competitive on the world stage. “The Tiger MkIII program will provide a European answer to the need for a state-of-the-art attack helicopter for the decades to come. With this upgrade, the Tiger will remain an essential and modern asset to its armies and reinforce defense cooperation in Europe,” said Bruno Even, Airbus Helicopters CEO. “The Tiger MkIII will have no equivalent in the world for high intensity operations and will further improve the connectivity, precision, and fire power capabilities of the current Tiger”.

FMI: www.airbus.com