Airbus Helicopters's new H160 medium twin is making its U.S. debut. Prototype number two (PT2) arrived in Las Vegas for this year's annual Heli-Expo show and is on display before embarking on a three-month customer demonstration tour followed by high/hot testing in Leadville, Colorado. Maintenance demonstrations of the H160 will be performed daily at the show to illustrate how maintenance has been optimized as a result of the helicopter's design and new processes, including the “Operator Zero” campaign.
“This aircraft is emblematic of the company's transformation in every domain from concept and design, to the revamped industrial production model,” said Ben Bridge, Airbus Helicopters executive vice president for global business. The three H160 prototypes have accumulated approximately 650 flight test hours to date. Airbus is aiming for certification next year.
The aircraft features an all-composite airframe, flat-floor cabin, oversize cabin windows, and a baggage compartment that can hold 661 pounds. Its cabin can be configured to seat four or eight passengers in executive/VIP layouts, or 12 in a utility configuration. The H160 also incorporates a variety of new technologies, among them Blue Edge active tracking main rotor blades in a five-blade system with a double sweep design that reduces noise and contributes to a smoother ride, and 10 to 15 percent better fuel consumption than the H155 family it replaces.
Airbus Helicopters's new H160 medium twin is making its U.S. debut. Prototype number two (PT2) arrived in Las Vegas for this year's annual Heli-Expo show and is on display before embarking on a three-month customer demonstration tour followed by high/hot testing in Leadville, Colorado. Maintenance demonstrations of the H160 will be performed daily at the show to illustrate how maintenance has been optimized as a result of the helicopter's design and new processes, including the “Operator Zero” campaign.
“This aircraft is emblematic of the company's transformation in every domain from concept and design, to the revamped industrial production model,” said Ben Bridge, Airbus Helicopters executive v-p for global business. The three H160 prototypes have accumulated approximately 650 flight test hours to date. Airbus is aiming for certification next year, a year later than originally anticipated.
"This shift is due to the problems encountered on some mechanical parts that had to be redesigned," the head of the H160 program Bernard Fujarski, said late last year in Marignane, France, confirming the delay.
Airbus Helicopters, which unveiled the twin-turbine H160 at Heli-Expo in March 2015, sees the program as a key to growth in the medium-size niche, where its worldwide market share fell to 6 percent, leaving the field to competitors such as the Leonardo AW139/169.
Former Airbus Helicopters CEO Guillaume Faury, who in February was shifting over to become head of Airbus Commercial Airplanes, had set a target for the H160 of 35-40 percent market share, about equal to that of the H155 in the past. Airbus Helicopters has not detailed firm total firm orders, but has noted that Falcon Aviation has ordered six in VIP configuration.
Airbus Helicopters is eyeing a potential civil and parapublic market for 2,500 new helicopters valued at nearly $32 billion over the next 20 years in the H160 niche. The new helicopter also has a military variant, the H160M, which was selected by the French army in March 2017 for the future HIL program (Hélicoptère Interarmées Léger) that is expected to call for 160 to 190 units. This contract has still to be confirmed.
The H160 will have a maximum takeoff weight of 5.67 metric tons (12,566 pounds) and 850-km (450-nm) range. It will offer a fuel burn 15 percent lower than that of the Dauphin H155 family, the model that the H160 replaces.
The program has completed some major milestones over the past year. Airbus Helicopters carried out the cold weather and snow campaign in Canada and in the Alps, the lightning impact tests, and started the assembly of the first production helicopter.
Plans call for the flight-test program to encompass about 1,100 hours of testing. The manufacturer is expecting to complete flight testing in 2018 to obtain simultaneous European EASA and U.S. FAA certification. In parallel, the Safran Helicopters Engines Arrano for the H160 will be certified. The H160's first electronic flight bag will be issued this year and also the first flight simulator made by Thales.
The program enters a major industrial phase in 2018, with the launch of the final assembly line at Marignane and the assembly of the first production rotorcraft. Two final assembly lines will be deployed, with a capacity of 50-60 machines per year. “We want to reach 40 helicopters per year three years after the entry in service,” said Fujarski. A third line could be opened if the H160M program is confirmed.
Airbus Helicopters chose a flow-line organization to reduce costs and make production leaner, as it did with its H125/H130 final assembly line. The machine will pass through five steps with a total time cycle of 40 days to assemble a helicopter.
“We want to obtain a total cycle of 26 weeks to produce and deliver a machine, so more than two times less than the Dauphin,” added Fujarski. Main elements are produced in the Airbus Helicopters Germany-based factory of Dönauworth (airframes), in Albacete, Spain, and in Tarbes, France, at Daher Aerospace (rear fuselage and empennage). Twelve units will be produced in pre-series (the first this year), before the start of the production flow line.
Support and maintenance will also be a key point, as the airframer wants to deliver a mature machine, notably in terms of support processes. “An operator will pay two or three times [the value of] its helicopters in maintenance costs during the lifetime of the machine,” Fujarski said. Airbus Helicopters wants to reach a 95 percent dispatch availability rate at entry-in-service, versus 80-85 percent in the past.
“We also want to reduce maintenance costs by 20 percent compared to competitors,” said Antoine Fleischmann, head of the H160 support program. To minimize operating costs, all maintenance and support processes have been defined in a collaborative way with Airbus's 23 global support subsidiaries and with a customer advisory panel.