EADS N.V. - Tiger Support Helicopter for the German Armed Forces

This year sees the German Armed Forces taking delivery of the first four Tiger support helicopters (UHT). A delivery schedule was agreed with the customer that provides for hand-over of the first Tiger UHT helicopters in different stages of equipment configuration. This permits optimized overlapping of residual qualification activities for the weapons system and the commencement of training and troop tests with army pilots. Production ramp-up in the two Eurocopter facilities at Marignane and Donauwörth is going ahead at full steam.

The Tiger UHT helicopters with serial numbers 01 to 04 will be delivered to the German Armed Forces gradually in the course of the year. They are intended for ongoing system qualifications, training of maintenance personnel and flying instructors of the German Armed Forces who will then go on to provide training at the Franco-German training school in Le Luc. One of the Tiger UHT helicopters will be used for troop trials from November/December of this year.

Key milestones are the start of training operations at Le Luc in April 2004 and commissioning of the first Tigers UHT with the Army Airborne Regiment 36 Frizlar at the beginning of 2005.

Procurement of the Tiger has underscored the commitment of the German Armed Forces to provide its troops with the latest equipment to meet the mission challenges of the 21st century. Helicopter supported units play basic and multilayer roles in these missions, with the Tiger being precisely tailored to meet these requirements. To date, the governments of Germany and France have each ordered 80 Tiger helicopters. Australia is the first export customer with an order for 22 Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters.

The capabilities of the Tiger make a significant contribution to cross-border interoperability and procurement within NATO and the EU. The Tiger helicopter secures more than 2,000 highly qualified jobs in Germany and France in the European helicopter and defence industry over a period of more than ten years.

The Tiger is based on a modular concept and was designed from the beginning as a multirole combat helicopter — a requirement that is becoming increasingly important for the profile of modern armed forces. The basic helicopter can be equipped with different mission systems and offers a high degree of flexibility and versatile mission capability. The Tiger has all-weather, night-vision and night-combat capability, currently being verified in final qualification tests.

The German and French armed forces want to make full use of the multirole capability of the Tiger. They have equipped the helicopter for antitank missions, engaging different ground targets, support and combat-support missions, surveillance and reconnaissance, and protection of unarmed transport helicopters on humanitarian missions. The two countries are deploying different mission equipment packages for this purpose.

EADS is a global aerospace and defence company, and is the world’s second largest in terms of revenues, having achieved EUR 29.9 billion in 2002. EADS maintains a workforce of more than 100,000 and is a market leader in defence technologies, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as related services. Its family of leading brands includes the commercial aircraft maker Airbus; Eurocopter, the world’s largest helicopter manufacturer; Astrium, the space company and MBDA, the world’s second largest missile company. EADS is also the biggest partner in the Eurofighter consortium and heads the A400M military transport aircraft programme. EADS has more than 70 facilities in France, Germany, Spain and the UK. It is active in markets around the world, including the U.S. and Asia.

Tiger Support Helicopter for the German Armed Forces

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