Page 22 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb 2020
P. 22

22 AIRPOWER HELICOPTERS
FEBRUARY 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
helicopter, together with the upgraded Northrop Grumman APG-78 Longbow fire control radar.
BDA is proposing to supply 29 AH-64Es under a hybrid Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Direct Commercial Sale (DCS) acquisition methodology, which it says will maxi- mise the potential benefit to local Australian industry. The company has also launched its Boeing Rotorcraft Network Australia (BRNA) portal to facilitate local
LEFT: Tiger ARH fires its 30mm cannon during a live-fire exercise while deployed with HMAS Canberra.
yond 2040. A life of type extension program will address equipment obsolescence issues and an up- grade of Tiger’s sensors, avionics and communications systems will ensure it remains operationally relevant out to that time.
The acquisition of seven H145Ms will provide the Com- monwealth with obvious synergies if the type is selected for the spe- cial operations support helicopter under Land 2097 requirement, but Airbus points out the helicopter will also add a multi-role capabil- ity to the 1st Aviation Regiment in
Darwin, which currently does not enjoy an organic light util- ity and search and rescue (SAR) capability and must rely on support from land transportation when it deploys anywhere.
The smaller helicopter also offers Airbus’ HForce weap- ons management system, which allows a range of weapons, including rockets and air to ground missiles to be added on almost a ‘plug and play’ basis.
bids for work packages across its helicop- ter programs.
“THE SELECTION OF A LAND 2097 SOLUTION IS CURRENTLY SCHEDULED TO OCCUR IN ADVANCE OF THE LAND 4503 DECISION.”
The selection of a Land 2097 solution is scheduled to occur in advance of the Land 4503 decision, but Airbus argues that bringing the latter forward, effec- tively scrapping the RFT and select- ing its proposal using the Smart Buyer mechanism, will realise the promised savings. At the present time, the Tiger support contract only extends out to
Bell and BAE Systems Australia have
also confirmed their teaming arrange-
ment, first announced at the Singapore
Airshow in February 2016, to offer 29 Bell
AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters for Land
4503. Speaking at the Pacific maritime
exhibition in Sydney in October last year, Bell’s global mili- tary business manager Javier Ball said that, under the terms of the teaming arrangement, BAE Systems will manage the Australian Industry Content (AIC) and fill the role of in- country sustainment, maintenance and training partner.
the 2028 planned withdrawal date and Airbus says that making an early decision to retain and extend Tiger will provide further efficiencies.
LIFE EXTENSION AND UPGRADE
Airbus has completed a survey of the Tiger airframe, dy- namic components and wiring harnesses and, although the latter will need replacing, it says the helicopter will have no problem reaching a 2040+ planned withdrawal date. The company is now engaging with its equipment suppliers to ensure that their products are equally capable of being sup- ported for another two decades.
The proposed upgrades will be undertaken during the Tiger’s regular deep maintenance cycles and will include a new Electronic Warfare (EW) system, to the ELIPS- NH as used by the MRH 90, together with an EW CPU upgrade and AAR-60 Block II Missile Launch Detection System (MILDS).
Tactical datalink capability, including Link 16 and full integration with Army’s current Battlefield Management
AIRBUS SMART BUYER PROPOSAL
Airbus Australia Pacific’s unsolicited proposal is based upon several principles. Firstly, the company says Tiger is operating effectively today, claiming a 97 per cent flying program availability and a 92 per cent successful comple- tion rate of each sortie.
The company also says the cost per flying hour has reduced by 30 per cent since 2014, largely through measures imple- mented across Defence and industry to address cost and avail- ability problems and it says maintenance costs per flying hour fell 44 per cent between 2014 and the end of 2019 as a result.
With the average life of the ARH fleet, expressed in terms of flying hours, about a quarter of the design life of the airframe, Airbus says it sees no problem with the aircraft flying to be-
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