Contract for Tiger Mk.III
On 2 March 2022, the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) awarded a contract to Airbus Helicopters for the development, production, and initial in-service support of the Tiger Mk.III attack helicopter upgrade programme.
OCCAR operates on behalf of the French and Spanish Armament General Directorates, the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) and the Dirección General de Armamento y Material (DGAM).
Accordig to the information, the contract includes the upgrade of 42 attack helicopters for France (with the possibility to add another 25 Tigers) and eighteen for Spain. The contract also provided the possibility for Germany to join the Tiger Mk.III programme.
The first prototype is planned to make its first flight in 2025. Deliveries to the Aviation légère de l’armée de Terre (ALAT, Land Army Light Aviation) will take place in late 2029 followed by the first delivery to the Fuerzas Aeromóviles del Ejército de Tierra (FAMET, Spanish Army Aviation) in 2030. All development work will be conducted with Airbus Helicopters in Marignane (France), Albacete (Spain) and Donauwörth (Germany).
The Tiger Mk.III standard configuration will include the integration of the Safran Strix NG sights, the Thales FlytX avionics suite, the Topowl DD helmet-mounted sight display, an Indra IFF upgrade, Thales GNSS, and Safran’s inertial navigation system. The communication suite will be upgraded with Thales’ Contact/Synaps radio and data links dedicated to manned/unmanned teaming. Moreover, for Spain Link16 and SATCOM functionalities will be included.
The Spanish Tiger Mk.III will be equipped with a battlefield management system and countermeasures provided by Indra, whereas the French Tiger Mk.III will be equipped with a battlefield management system by ATOS and countermeasures provided by Thales. The new weapon package for France will include the MBDA MAST-F (Future Tactical Air-to-Surface Missile) and Mistral 3 air-to-air missile. For Spain, new capabilities will include 70mm guided rockets and a new air to ground missile.
Airbus Helicopters is fully committed to supporting the Tiger fleet. In 2019, a tri-lateral Global Support Contract was signed with OCCAR. It aimed at boosting the availability rate of the Tigers in service in France, Germany and Spain.
Image by Airbus Helicopters