Airbus Helicopters and its predecessors have been highly successful producers of civil helicopters—big, medium and small—over a 50-year period. At the same time, the company’s experience with the dedicated Tiger attack helicopter over the past 25 years has been mixed, with development delays, funding holdups and failed sales campaigns. This helps explain why it is now adapting its commercial range for attack purposes.
The marketing handle for this drive is “HForce,” and the aim is to use a “modular, incremental approach to producing affordable, high-performance multipurpose military helicopters,” according to Christian Fanchini, senior operational marketing manager. The former French Army helicopter pilot described progress in the two-year-old initiative during a mid-June media briefing at Airbus Helicopters’ Donauwörth site in Germany.
Any of the company’s 11 current civil helicopters could theoretically be adapted with the generic HForce weapons system. For now, though, Airbus Helicopters is concentrating on the H125 single-engine machine, the H145 light twin and the H225 heavy helicopter. These were formerly designated the AS350B3, BK117D/EC145T2 and EC725 respectively. As military helicopters, the suffix ‘M’ is added to the new designations.
Fanchini reported on the first HForce firing campaign, which took place in late May/early June on the H225M. The 11-ton, 19-passenger machine was fitted with an L-3 Wescam Mx15 EO/IR sensor/rangefinder turret and a Rockwell Collins FMC-4000 mission computer. Airbus Helicopters developed the software and added special firing grips to the controls. The pilots wore Thales Scorpion helmet-mounted sight displays (HMSDs).
The H225M was armed with FN Herstal 12.7 mm HMP400 machine guns; a 20 mm Nexter cannon; and a 70 mm FZ rocket pod, all on specially-designed mounts. Those weapons are all ballistic, but guided weapons such as Hellfire anti-tank missiles, Mistral air-to-air missiles and laser-guided rockets can be added if customers request them. The latter can help the helicopter stay out of range of hostile 7.62 mm ground fire, but armor has been developed for them, as well as self-sealing fuel tanks.
Pilots can fire the weapons through the HMSD, or a gunner can fire through the turret. This can be slaved to elevation, allowing firing to be done while in the hover.
Airbus Helicopters (Outdoor Exhibits 13, 25) plans to qualify the H225M by the end of next year. Meanwhile, it plans to add the same HForce weapons system to an H145M and fly it early next year.
The H145M has already achieved major sales success in the U.S., where the Army chose it for training and ordered 350. The German Army has bought 15 for special operations, and examples for the Australian and Thai armed forces are currently in production at Donauwörth. It can be variously equipped for medevac, SAR and ISR missions.