Tiger fight

But the head of the Australian arm of the Tiger’s manufacturer, Airbus Helicopters, says the future of Tiger in Australia is burning bright thanks to improved reliability and serviceability rates.

“Europe is investing in the development of Tiger and the continuation of Tiger and we will leverage off that,” said Airbus Group Australia Pacific chief executive Tony Fraser during an Airbus media briefing at Avalon.

“I think Tiger has got a bright future. But we acknowledge we still have got work to do with Tiger. We’ll continue to improve the supply chain and what we’ve done over the last two years through a dedicated taskforce was reduce the cost of ownership by 30 per cent. We acknowledge that’s an issue still and we really need to continue to drive that down.”

Fraser, who retired from the Army as a Major General, said both the company and operators of Tiger were “very comfortable now” with a machine he described as an “exceptionally manoeuvrable and capable aircraft” with great reconnaissance capability.

“Talking to the commanding officer of the regiment, they now talk about the capability they have and the things that Tiger can do and they talk about it with pride,” said Fraser. “I can put my hand on my heart as an ex-operator who carried responsibility for our troops that I am comfortable that this nation and Defence can carry that onto operations should the government require it to do so.”

Interestingly Airbus Helicopters brought a PNG-registered civilian H145 to the airshow, the military variant of which, the H145M, could be offered for an Army requirement for a new helicopter to support special forces troops in the counter-terrorism role.

Fraser said the H145 was at Avalon “to be shown to a number of prospective clients”.

An American solution?

Boeing went to great expense to highlight the latest variant of its Apache attack helicopter, the AH-64E, flying a borrowed US Army example to Avalon aboard a specially chartered Antonov An-124 freighter.

“We want to be able to offer the Apache to the Australians to be their next attack helicopter,” Boeing’s director of sales and marketing for attack helicopters, Mark Ballew, told Australian Aviation at Avalon.

“The AH-64E Apache can provide Australia with the battled-tested, armed reconnaissance and attack helicopter that the Commonwealth needs.”

Back in 2001, Australia opted to buy the Tiger ARH ahead of the AH-64D Apache, but now Boeing is pitching hard its battle-proven AH-64E.

Should Australia head down the Apache path, the helicopter would tick many boxes. The helicopter would be acquired via a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) purchase and produced in the same multi-year contract as the US Army which is acquiring 690 E-models out to the mid 2020s. This would mean Australia would pay around the same price as the US Army for the helicopter.

Further, the Apache is a mature capability with more than 2,200 examples produced since 1984. So far, 278 Echo models have been delivered in the US and to international customers. The E model is operating in Afghanistan today.

“Apaches have flown more than four million flight hours and more than 1.1 million combat hours,” said Ballew.

“It is combat proven and battle tested.

Apache is operated by 16 nations in every region of the world with another 10 defence forces showing a high level of interest for potential additional sales.

The Apache is supported around the world, so you’re not on an island by yourself. The British and the Dutch operate theirs on ships routinely. We’re leveraging that and we would obviously share that with the Australians as we know that is important.”

Features of the Echo Apache include an updated drive train, new composite main rotor blades, transmission improvements, updated weapon system, reduced wiring and embedded diagnostics. Ballew also pointed out that the E model, although appearing identical to the D model, offered improved speed, range, endurance and payload, better interoperability and fire control.

To demonstrate its improved capability to operate with other platforms, the Apache at Avalon was linked to a video feed from a Scan Eagle remotely-piloted aircraft. With that capability, a Scan Eagle could watch over an enemy position for up to 16 hours, providing imagery to an Apache for a successful attack.

Virtual Viper

A popular exhibit inside the airshow’s trade halls was the joint Bell Helicopter and BAE Systems Australia stand featuring the AH-1Z Viper cockpit demonstrator, highlighting, virtually, the US Marine Corps’ latest attack helicopter.

“We have several FMS campaigns on the go with the Viper – Australia would be one of them,” said Bell Helicopter’s regional director for international military business development, John Woodbery at the airshow. “We are in a very healthy discussion as an industry OEM with the ADF discussing options and ideas.

We are both getting a lot out of it.

Whether or not it comes to fruition or not I can’t say, but the interaction has been healthy.”

Woodbery confirmed Bell is now full throttle with pitching the Viper as a potential replacement for the Tiger. In February 2016, Bell signed a teaming agreement with BAE Systems Australia at the Singapore Airshow which would see BAE provide maintenance and support services for the AH-1Z in Australia.

“They have a good history of maintaining aircraft for the ADF – that’s what drew us to them,” said Woodbery. “They are also very responsive to the customer and we are in the process of looking at options for the ADF and its ARH replacement. I think it’s a unique challenge for BAE to start helping the ADF to think through some of their sustainment at sea options for their aircraft.”

To date, Bell has delivered around 70 out of the 179 Vipers required by the USMC. With a small number of airframes in service, securing a spare AH-1Z to bring to Avalon was an impossible task, so Bell’s high-fidelity cockpit simulator was the next best thing.

“The Viper is not like an Apache where there’s a fleet of about 1,200 out there,” said Woodbery. “It is not easy for us to bring one to the airshow to show it off Down Under. However, the simulator allows us to demonstrate its weapon system and to talk people around the cockpit layout.”

Australian Aviation had the chance to fly in the simulated battlefield from the front seat of the Viper simulator.

With its right-side-mounted cyclic, rather than the usual centre-positioned cyclic, the Viper takes a little time to get used to. So Bell’s lead H-1 production test pilot Tim Mouw takes over and demonstrates firing the Viper’s AGM-114 Hellfire missiles on four armoured vehicle targets hiding over 4km down range.

Next, Mouw selects the Viper’s 70mm unguided rocket from the weapon system to engage a soft vehicle target. While a Viper aircrew would be wearing a Thales TopOwl Helmet Mounted Sight Display, instead for the cockpit demonstrator, presented on the display screen ahead and above of the cockpit is a diamondshaped symbol which the weapon system has calculated. Mouw raises the nose to put the cross-hair into the diamond’s centre and fires off some rockets at an elevated trajectory. Falling almost vertically on to its targets, the rockets claim a kill. A few rounds from the Viper’s turret-mounted M197 20mm cannon, the same cannon installed on Boeing’s Hornet aircraft but sans three barrels, burst onto the remains of the vehicles to further ensure the kill is completed.

While returning to the amphibious assault ship stationed a few miles offshore, Mouw engages an enemy attack helicopter en route with one of two AIM-9 air-to-air missiles carried by the Viper. Indeed, the Zulu is the only attack helicopter in the world with a fully-integrated AIM-9 missile capability.

“I think we are just as lethal if not more so than say the Apache because of the AIM-9,” said Woodbery. “The AIM-9 does more than just provide air cover for the guys on the ground once they are ashore. It also augments air defence of the ship.”

Woodbury said the AH-1Z is due to make its way to Australian shores in 2018 as part of a future USMC Marine Rotation Force-Darwin (MRF-D) rotation to the Northern Territory.

“We see a lot of potential for the Viper,” said Woodberry. “Asia Pacific is one of those exciting places where we have several tier one allies that are all building amphibious capabilities and building a habitual relationship with the United States Marine Corps and they’re all looking at the same technology and the interoperability aspects.”