Page 30 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb 2020

30 AIRPOWER HELICOPTERS
FEBRUARY 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
The ability of the Tigre to take battle damage has been proven on several occasions and on one such mission, CAPT Teddy recalled how a machine gun ambush had been set to shoot down the Tigers, one of which he was flying.
“The aircraft is very, very resilient to battle damage (and) I am proof of that. It was a helicopter ambush, the day be- fore we fought a heavy company of Katibat and they knew the French helicopters would come back, so it was a suicide
FUTURE TIGRE
The Tigre is due to remain in service for many years to come and the French Army fleet is now being upgraded to Standard 2 (Mk.2) configuration, which comprises a GPS with a Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAA- SM), inclusion of the ALAT’s SIT datalink and new weap- ons, including Mistral 2 or 3 missiles.
As mentioned earlier, HAP variants are being upgraded to standard 2 configuration in conjunction with their con- version to HAD and will all have been completed by end of 2024. The existing HAD fleet will have all undergone upgrade by the end of 2023.
Beyond Mk.2, definition work is also underway for a Standard 3 (Mk.3) variant and although its final con- figuration is yet to be decided, the upgrade will likely include an enhanced sight (Strix NG), GPS and Gali- leo navigation systems, a manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) capability, modernised avionics, a new da- talink, encrypted SATCOM, precision guided 68mm rockets, an enhanced 30mm cannon with a greater tra- verse (Extension Butée) and a replacement for the Hell- fire missiles (likely to be the MAST-F – Future Tactical Air to Surface Missile).
“We use the Tigre in marginal conditions in the French Army,” CAPT Teddy concluded. “If you find the worst place on earth, you can be sure that in five years we’ll be operating there.” ■
Disclaimer: The writer travelled to Phalsbourg as a guest of Airbus Helicopters.
“HAP VARIANTS ARE BEING
UPGRADED TO STANDARD 2 CONFIGURATION IN CONJUNCTION WITH HAD AND WILL ALL BE COMPLETED BY THE END OF 2024.”
mission for them, they put some wounded guys on a hotspot with heavy machine guns and told them to concentrate their fire on them,” he recalled.
“I was flying and took 15 rounds of (7.62mm) PKM shells and it wasn’t a problem for me or the helicopter. One (avionics) box was hit but the helicopter merely advised me
that it had switched to an alternate box. It was not a major problem and I flew it for 20 minutes back to the nearest secure French position.
“The second Tigre was hit too but we continued to fight after I came back. At another time we also had an RPG hit a Tigre and it was repaired in Gao in about two days,” CAPT Teddy said.
ABOVE: French Tigres have seen substantial overseas deployments in their service life.
AIRBUS