The Tiger's tale
The Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program drew some heavy flak from the ANAO back in May, but has been stoutly defended by Defence and Industry alike.
After a strong start the Army's Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter program has encountered some delays. The Australian National Audit Office has painted an alarming
The actual
When Defence selected the Eurocopter Tiger (which ADM understands was significantly cheaper than either of its American rivals), the Tiger helicopter program was at an advanced stage of development. It had been ordered by the French and German Armies and the plan was that Australia's own Tiger ARH program would shadow that of the French, whose HAP (Helicoptere d'Appui et Protection) was the basis for Australia's Tiger ARH configuration.
The DMO and Army deliberately minimised Australian-specific modifications to reduce project risks. The major modifications involved integrating American ARC-210 and -220 secure radios and the Lockheed Martin Hellfire 2 missile, with the general-purpose rather than anti-tank warhead. Furthermore, both crew members will use Helmet-Mounted Sights. Otherwise, it uses the same avionics suite and twin Rolls-Royce Turbomeca MTR390 engines as the French variant.
Australia was the first Tiger operator to specify the Hellfire so bore the cost of integration and test & evaluation (T&E) of the new capability. The Hellfire integration required changes to some of the symbology displayed in the aircraft fire control system; these, and the communications system modifications, needed also to be replicated accurately in the flight simulator.
Ironically, given what's happened elsewhere in the project, these relatively minor developmental aspects of the Tiger ARH program went almost without a hitch. The Hellfire integration program was completed in December 2005 with seven successful test firings at Woomera; if another Tiger customer orders the Hellfire also, the Commonwealth will receive a royalty
However, the Tiger ARH program's aggressive timeline depended heavily on the 'parent' French Tiger program also keeping to schedule, which it has been unable to do. The first production aircraft, a German UHT variant, was rolled out in March 2002; deliveries to the German Army were scheduled to commence at the end of that year, and to the French Army in June 2003.
The French flight test and type certification program has encountered severe delays and this has had a consequent effect on the certification process for Australia's Tigers. But there are now 10 aircraft at Eurocopter's Leluc flight test centre, five French and five German, and between them they have amassed several thousand test and type certification flying hours. At the time of writing ADM understood the French type certification process was in its final phase and due for completion around August.
The French military type certificate will cover those aspects of the Tiger ARH which are common to the French Army's Tiger HAP, while the Australian Military Type Certification (AMTC) process will include the Australian-specific elements of the aircraft and its training devices, including the new radios, data links, Hellfire missiles and operations from the RAN's amphibious landing ships.
As planned, an initial limited AMTC was achieved in October 2005; this allowed the Australian Tiger fleet to carry out training, ferry, flight test and demonstration flights. Final AMTC was originally scheduled for March this year; according to the DMO the final AMTC for Australia's Tiger ARH variant is expected well before the end of 2006.
Under Project Air 87 Eurocopter has built four aircraft at Marignane in France while its local subsidiary, Australian Aerospace, is assembling the remaining 18 aircraft at its new Brisbane facility.
At the time of writing five aircraft had been delivered, with two more awaiting acceptance. The first two were delivered from Marignane in December 2004 to achieve the contracted In-Service Date (ISD). The remainder were delivered last year, along with the first Australian-assembled aircraft.
Aside from the issue of Australian military type certification, the Franco-German program delays have also held up the training of Australian Qualified Flying Instructors (QFIs) who can train squadron pilots and battle captains. Furthermore, Australian Army Aviation's heavy operational workload since early-2005 has resulted in a shortage of Army rotary wing test pilots who can conduct acceptance testing of aircraft delivered by Australian Aerospace.
The kink in the
This compounded the effect of the delayed French type certification program - while the initial cadre of Australian QFIs was supposed to be trained in France using a mix of French and Australian aircraft, there simply weren't enough aircraft available to meet all of Australia's needs.
To make up for this shortage one of the four French-built Tigers was held back at Marignane to undertake QFI training. This was delivered last year and Australian Aerospace also brought two instructors over from France to help train the pilot and battle captain QFIs. The company says it plans to commence squadron pilot and battle captain training at Oakey during the final quarter of this year.
The simulator was delivered to Oakey on schedule in early-2006 and final acceptance and accreditation is now planned for early 2007. ADM understands that the Franco-German Tiger type certification delays will have no further impact on the schedule for accreditation of Australia's simulator. Once accredited to the equivalent of Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Level D functionality and fidelity this will allow up to 75 per cent of pilot training to be conducted in the simulator. The accreditation process will be complex as CASA accreditation doesn't take into account certain military-specific aspects of modern training devices, such as the use of weapons and self-protection counter-measures.
Meanwhile, the simulator is being used for QFI familiarisation and to teach emergency procedures; further aircrew training on the simulator may be introduced from late-2006, depending on its maturity.
Once sufficient instructors have been trained and the simulator is commissioned the throughput of pilots and battle captains will increase. Pilots will take six months to transition to the ARH Tiger; battle captains will take 12 months.
The net result of these problems has been a six-month delay in achieving Initial Operational Capability (IOC). The IOC milestone, with a cadre of trained aircrew for the first of the two Tiger squadrons, has moved from July 2007 to the end of 2007. The full operational capability should be achieved by December 2008 when both squadrons and the 1st Aviation Regiment HQ and support elements are fully equipped, manned and trained.
Despite being one of the only Air 87 contenders to comply with every 'Essential' flight performance requirement during the original evaluation, flight testing showed up a shortfall in the power margin required from the Tiger's MTR390 engines for hot and high operations at maximum combat payload.
This was represented widely as a major problem requiring a new engine or up to $100 million-worth of modifications to the existing engine. However, the reality seems to be a bit more prosaic. Army's performance requirements specify the power and margins necessary for different configurations, environmental conditions and operational scenarios.
In the worst-case scenario, involving operations at the maximum take-off weight of 6.4 tonnes, an ambient temperature of 35 degrees Celsius and a runway altitude of 1,000ft above sea level, the Tiger has sufficient power, with a contractually-mandated margin in hand; at the next milestone on this notional mission, the point at which it crosses the Forward Edge of the Battle Area (FEBA), it was 3 per cent below the required power margin. Otherwise, the MTR390 appears to meet its contracted requirements throughout the rest of the flight envelope.
In May Australian Aerospace told ADM it and Turbomeca had completed minor engine modifications to ensure the Tiger meets the power margin requirement and that the contractual issues were close to being resolved. The DMO has stated that there are no plans to replace the current engines with new, uprated versions currently under development for the Spanish Army's Tiger variant. These would be heavier, with increased fuel consumption.
The Tiger will gather and exchange tactical and surveillance data with Army's Battlefield Command Support System (BCSS) through a dedicated suite of Ground Mission Equipment (GME). Final acceptance of the GME, including the training and software support capabilities at the Australian Army Aviation Training Centre at Oakey and at 1st Aviation Regiment's facilities, was scheduled for last month.
ADI Ltd and Avalon Systems Pty Ltd are responsible for the GME and part of the software support aspects of the contract; Avalkon in particular is responsible for supporting the Tiger's EW self-protection suite. Haliburton KBR Pty Ltd is responsible for aircrew and ground crew training, except for tactical training which will be provided by uniformed personnel.
As part of the project's Australian Industry Involvement (AII) program, Australian companies are the sole source of some components for the global Tiger program: ADI is providing electrical wiring looms, Honeywell is building flight control components and all ground training devices have been designed and produced in Australia by local SMEs.
And in April this year Australian Aerospace announced a $15 million investment in a new composite fibre manufacturing plant in Queensland. Its location hasn't been disclosed as yet but this will employ some 60 people producing and repairing composite airframe components for Australia's Tiger and MRH90 helicopters and, eventually, for the global Tiger and NH90 programs.
Senior ADF officers, and the defence minister himself, have been vehement defenders of the Air 87 program in the face of the ANAO's critcism. The aggressive schedule for the project made it vulnerable to delays in both the 'parent' program and local elements of the project, such as the flight simulator. The latter has been delivered so a key cause of the project delay is being addressed. But Australia can't advance faster than the French Tiger HAP program, so all eyes are now on France.
By Gregor Ferguson, Adelaide