Eurocopter Tiger goes into production

June 18th, 1999

The French and German Governments finally gave the go ahead for series production of the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter (AH). At a ceremony at during the Paris Air Show today representatives of the two Defence Ministers signed an agreement for an initial order of 80 aircraft each.

The German Army's total requirement for 212 and the French Army's requirement for 215 helicopters remain unchanged. Production of the helicopters at Donauworth in Germany and Marignane in France will begin immediately.

This much trailed decision is a welcome relief to Eurocopter's chairman Patrick Gavin, who said yesterday that Eurocopter was "…absolutely ready for production to begin. It is important that we build on our position as number one in the civilian market and increase our military market share. The Tiger helps us do that."

With Eurocopter hoping for AH sales in Australia, Turkey and Poland it was vital that the launch customers actually went forward with the project. Although France had remained supportive, there was some concern that the German Government, under some pressure from the economy and more from its political opponents might seek to reduce the scale of purchase or by slipping the in-service date.

"The signing aids our overseas sales effort, with other countries seeing that our two governments have such faith in the aircraft," said Gavin.

The French army will get the HAP escort/support configuration, armed with turret-mounted gun, Mistral air-to-air missiles and unguided rockets. The German Army has opted for the UHT version, armed with Stinger air-to-air missiles and with HOT-2 antitank missiles,. Deliveries will start in 2002.

Trevor Thomas, Editor of the Australian Defence Business Report told DSD that this development "…gives the Eurocopter bid for Air 87 a great boost which will stand it in good stead when the Australian Defence Department comes to decide on the relevant merits of the three competitors for the Australian Army armed reconnaissance helicopter requirement." The other contenders are the Agusta Scorpion and the Boeing Ah-64 Apache.

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