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Airbus signs Global Support Contract for Tigers

Airbus Helicopters and the OCCAR, which stands for the Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d’Armement (Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation), have signed a tri-lateral Global Support Contract aimed at boosting the availability rate of  Tiger helicopters in service in the French, German, and Spanish armies.

At present 183 Tigers have been delivered to France, Germany, Spain, and Australia, and have accumulated over 130,000 flight hours to date. The attack helicopter was first deployed by the French Army in Afghanistan in 2009, and then shortly followed by the German and Spanish Armies.

With this new long-term support agreement, Airbus explains Tiger readiness and supportability will be secured for the next decade and beyond. The contract covers items such as continuous improvement and obsolescence treatment as well as securing repair and spares capabilities with all vendors involved.

The contract, continues Airbus, also provides for the individual needs of each customer in line with their operational and deployment scenarios. For instance, in France, the agreement guarantees parts availability up to 98 per cent and provides for the simplification of logistics as Airbus Helicopters will also directly take over the provisioning of new parts, as well as repaired parts and other expendables.

“We are proud to be providing long term and additional support to Tigers, especially when some of those Tigers are continuously deployed in important operational theatres,” said Bruno Even, CEO, Airbus Helicopters. “This contract allows our customers to reliably plan their support activities for the next decade.”