Less than a year after the government of France and Spain unveiled ambitious plans for a next “Mark III” upgrade variants of its Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter, the defense ministries of both countries were forced to adopt more modest plans, according to French blog Forces Operations.
The Tiger—then still in prototype stage—featured in the 1995 James Bond film Goldeneye, in which it was hijacked and eventually destroyed using its own Mistral missiles. Bond and the heroine escape using a made-up ejection system.
Nearly three decades later, the German Army operates 51 Tigers UHTs, Spain has 24 Tiger HADs and France has mixed fleet of 67 Tiger HADs and HAPs in three helicopter regiments. Australia also has 22 Tiger ARHs due for retirement in 2026.
The Tiger Mark III (or Standard 3) was billed as extending the design’s service life beyond 2050. Spain and France awarded Airbus a contract to upgrade 18 Spanish Tigers at a cost of €1.18 billion, and 42 French tigers for €2.8 billion. Following a first flight by a prototype scheduled in 2025, deliveries would begin 2029-2030. Both hoped Berlin—which vowed to spend €100 billion more on defense following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—would chip in for Tiger upgrades too.
But that didn’t happen—and the fully-envisioned upgrade apparently ceased being economical. Still, Madrid and Paris will spend many euros on the less expensive upgrade dubbed the Standard 2+ on the blog. French defense minister Sebastien Lecornu stated a “2040-2045” service life in a recent speech, where he also expressed his view that the upgrade’s costly acquisition model needed to be reconsidered. “If the helicopter is so great, but we can only buy a few—that will be a problem.”
It’s tempting think of the two-seat Eurocopter as the Euro-Apache, though it’s in a more middleweight class comparable to the U.S.’s AH-1 Cobra or the canceled RAH-66 Comanche. Like its American rival, the Tiger was initially intended to scourge Soviet tank battalions, but was refashioned for multi-role capabilities.
Manufactured primarily from lightweight carbon-fiber composite materials (including plastic rotors) and armored to withstand 23-millimeter flak shells, the Tiger is faster, longer ranged (500 miles), more maneuverable and stealthier than the Apache—but carries fewer heavy weapons as the outer two of its four stub-wing hardpoints can’t carry anti-tank missile racks.
The main casualties of the downgrade are two new missiles planned for integration with the Tiger: the Mistral 3; and the MAST-F, also known as Akeron LP. The latter was a European attempt to make a lighter-weight (77 pound) Hellfire-style anti-tank missile, with multiple guidance options (laser, infrared and TV), a maximum range of 5 miles, and ability to loiter or call off strikes similar to that found on Israel’s Spike missile.
The Mistral-3, introduced in 2014, is the latest generation of the French short-range anti-aircraft missile, now with a maximum range of 4.3 miles, altitude of 13,000 feet, and speed of Mach 2.7. Its modern infrared imaging seeker and image-recognition algorithms allow it to home in on low-heat drones and missiles, and discriminate against hot flare decoys. Its planned integration reflected importance placed on the Tiger’s air-to-air capability.
Plans to improve the Tiger’s built-in gun were also shelved.
The “Tiger 2+” will nonetheless receive several useful improvements:
- Integration with France’s Scorpion digital battle-management/communications network
- Euroflir 510 (formerly Strix NG) stabilized electro-optical sight which combines 12 different sensors viewable on multiple channels.
- TopOwl helmet-mounted sights
- New satellite communication links, including Galileo-based navigation
- Thales FlytX avionics used via five customizable 10-inch touchscreens
- Integration of laser-guided rockets similar to the U.S.’s APKWS rockets—effectively a cheap way to carry a lot of small precision-guided missiles.
A question mark remains on integrating remote drone-control capabilities, which feature prominently in the U.S.’s Apache Guardian helicopters.
Origins of the Tiger
Like past French-German projects, the Tiger’s development begun in 1985 proved long and torturous—and complicated by the collapse of the Soviet Union it was built to fight against—before finally entering service in 2003..
Germany, France, Spain and Australia each ended up procuring their own model. Germany’s Tiger UHTs lack built-in guns, but like the Apache Longbow boast sight mounted on a mast above the rotor to allow peeking above terrain, and can employ the HOT3 or PARS 3LR anti-tank missile, AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles, and external .50 caliber machinegun pods.
France’s Tiger HAPs have a 30-millimeter chin cannon, and can carry 20-millimeter gun pods, 68-millimeter rocket pods, and Mistral air-to-air missiles on four hardpoints. But’s Spain similar but beefed-up Tiger HAD ‘support and attack’ model boasted the more powerful MTR390 engine, a satellite antenna, and additional armor and could employ the Israeli Spike-LR long-range missile and American Hellfire anti-tank missile. The French army liked the HAD and decided to begin procuring those instead.
French, German and Spanish Tigers all saw successful stints combating the Taliban in Afghanistan; Spain’s were later depicted in the war film Zona Hostil (Rescue Under Fire.) France’s furthermore saw action operating from the deck of the amphibious carrier Tonnerre supporting the overthrow of Libyan dictator Qaddafi in 2013, then France’s intervention stopping rebel forces advancing towards the capital of Mali. There are no losses to enemy fire, but two French Tigers were lost in crashes during operation.
Broadly there are concerns about low readiness rates for Germany’s Tigers Berlin blames on Airbus contractors. But most troublesomely, Australia’s fleet of 22 Tiger ARHs (in-between the HAP and HAD model) were prone to severe problems, including cockpit fumes that caused pilots to go on strike. Though eventually corrected, these led Canberra to plan retirement of the helicopters shortly after they became fully operational in 2016, for replacement 2026-2029 with Apache Guardians.
A future for manned attack helicopters?
Dedicated attack helicopters are costly but highly effective weapon platforms. But heavy losses suffered by Russian attack helicopters in Ukraine (at least 45 confirmed destroyed Ka-52s, Mi-24s, Mi-35s and Mi-28s by early February 2023, more damaged) have spurred doubts such expensive systems are sufficiently survivable fighting capable enemies saturated with anti-air weapons and sensor—especially when drones might do the job more cheaply and expendably.
To keep at arm’s length from air defenses, Ukrainian and Russian attack helicopters often lob unguided rockets in arcing trajectory towards enemy positions rather than direct fire they’re intended for. According to reports, even though Russian self-defense counter measures are effective, they get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of fire from portable air defense missiles.
This may be diminishing the attractiveness of spending big on helicopters. That said, Russia’s successful use of new LMUR missiles and U.S. integration of Spike missiles on Apaches suggest attack helicopters can be effective delivering accurate stand-off-range attacks—if advanced missiles, battlefield networking and long-range sensors are available.
The less extensive Tiger upgrade now planned may lack new missiles, but retains sensors and communication enhancements that perhaps can be paired with pre-existing advanced missiles—reportedly France is considering MBDA’s Brimstone missile.
Sébastien Roblin has written on the technical, historical, and political aspects of international security and conflict for publications including 19FortyFive, The National Interest, MSNBC, Forbes.com, Inside Unmanned Systems and War is Boring. He holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University and served with the Peace Corps in China. You can follow his articles on Twitter.
