Helikopter - AW&ST presenterer Leonardos nye angrepshelikopter

 

EUROPE

Boeing’s Apache may be the backbone of attack helicopter fleets in Europe, with some 100 in service across Greece, the Netherlands and the UK, but the region’s rotorcraft industry is preparing its own new generation of competitors.

This AW249 Fenice prototype, pictured in an exclusive image made available to Aviation Week, is one of two undergoing flight testing. A fleet of 48 Fenices is planned for the Italian Army in the coming years. Credit: Leonardo Helicopters

While initially aimed at the aviation needs of the Italian Army, Leonardo is hoping its new 8.3-metric-ton AW249 Fenice—Italian for “phoenix”—will fare better on the export market than the AW129 Mangusta it is replacing. In Turkey, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has flown its 11-metric-ton T929 ATAK 2 attack helicopter, though the company has slowed its development in favor of accelerating work on the T925 large utility helicopter, a mockup of which was displayed at the 2023 Paris Air Show.

Taking the same approach as the Chinese appear to have adopted with the Z-20 and Z-XX, Leonardo and TAI have opted to develop common dynamic systems. The Fenice uses the same dynamic system and GE CT7 engines as the proven AW149 military rotorcraft. TAI’s T925 will be equipped with the same dynamic systems and the Ukrainian Motor Sich TV3-117 turboshaft as the T929 prototype, although Turkish industry has ambitions to develop its own family of turboshaft engines for indigenous rotorcraft platforms.

Sharing dynamic systems between platforms and then wrapping a new airframe around them is an easy way for helicopter manufacturers to reduce development costs. Bell did this with the HueyCobra family starting in the 1960s. South Africa’s Denel also used the dynamic systems developed for its Atlas Oryx upgrade of the Eurocopter Puma to create the Rooivalk attack helicopter. The latter may soon receive a midlife upgrade supported by Turkish defense electronics manufacturer Aselsan.

Wide-area displays that are standard in modern combat aircraft dominate the AW249’s tandem cockpit. Credit: Leonardo HelicoptersNow advancing through its development program with two prototypes flying, the AW249—to be designated the AH-249 by the Italian Army—has been developed to meet the army’s need for a new exploration and escort helicopter, with improved performance, weapon capacity, range and endurance compared with the Mangusta.

The OEM has said little about the €2.77 billion ($2.95 billion) program, apparently due to the unwillingness of the Italian customer to release information. However, the aircraft is expected to make use of many of the weapons already integrated onto the Mangusta, with the Rafael Spike anti-armor missile as its primary weapon and a Leonardo TM 197B Light Turreted Gun fitted under the nose.

Many of the Fenice’s biggest improvements are under the skin, including improved connectivity, data links and manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) systems, while large area displays dominate the cockpit.

In France and Spain, a program to upgrade the Airbus Tiger attack helicopter has been scaled back to reduce costs despite increases in the two countries’ defense budgets. The Tiger Mk. 3 program was considered a midlife update for the aircraft, swapping out its central nervous system with modernized avionics, sensors and communications systems while integrating new weapons.

Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even revealed in January that the scope of the program, which he referred to as Tiger Mk. 2+, had been reduced in terms of its “technical content.” Several reports suggest the changes may mean the French aircraft will no longer be equipped with the new MBDA-developed Akeron LP missile, forcing France to adopt an off-the-shelf weapon. MBDA CEO Eric Beranger said in March that discussions were continuing around the choice of weapon.

Germany—the original partner in the Tiger program in the 1980s—has opted not to upgrade its Tigers to the Mk. 3 standard and instead plans to retire the type in the early 2030s, replacing them with an interim purchase of armed Airbus H145M twin-engine light helicopters equipped with Spike. Airbus has developed the aircraft with a suite of data links, mission management and a MUM-T system, providing it with about 80% of a dedicated attack helicopter’s mission set. Other European nations are following a similar approach. Cyprus, for example, is replacing its Russian-made Mil Mi-35 Hinds with the H145M, having sold the former to Serbia.

Even with these new European platforms in development, the Apache is likely to continue to dominate. The European fleet is set to nearly double in size if Poland goes ahead with plans to acquire the full complement of 96 AH-64Es it requested in 2022. That would give Warsaw Europe’s largest attack helicopter fleet.

Russia’s attack helicopters—including the Kamov Ka-52, Mil Mi-28 and Mil Mi-35—have been used extensively in its invasion of Ukraine, including for close air support along the front lines, with the Ka-52 in particular suffering heavy losses. According to the UK Defense Ministry, around a quarter of the Russian Air Force’s Ka-52s have been lost in the fighting, largely brought down by man-portable surface-to-air missiles.

To address the losses, Russia has integrated the LMUR Light Multipurpose Guided Rocket weapon, a KB Mashinostroyeniya analog of the U.S. AGM-114 Hellfire, which has given the Ka-52 and Mi-28 a greater standoff range.