Tiger tales

It has been a turbulent flight for the Army’s Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter

Recent media reports that Defence is considering replacing the Tiger ARH helicopter instead of conducting a mid-life upgrade of the machine are perplexing.

The reports are based on conversations or briefings conducted on the sidelines of the Land Forces 2014 conference in Brisbane in September (although they are yet to be attributed to any particular speaker), and claim Airbus Helicopters has been given three years to fix the troubled helicopter once and for all. When questioned by Australian Aviation’s sister publication ADBR on this, Defence refused to rule anything out, saying only that: “Defence is considering a range of options as part of the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter mid-life upgrade program. These options will be comprehensively evaluated to ensure that the proposed solution meets capability requirements and provides value for money through-life. As yet, no options have been considered by government. ” The Tiger was selected in December 2001 to fulfil the Project AIR 87 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) requirement to replace the UH-1H Iroquois ‘Bushranger’ gunship and the 206B Kiowa in the reconnaissance role. The first four machines were built by Eurocopter in France, the first of which was delivered in December 2004. The remaining 18 ARHs were assembled by local Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) subsidiary Australian Aerospace at a purpose built facility at Brisbane, the last of which was delivered in early 2011.