PROGRESS STATUS ON TIGER WEAPON SYSTEM FLIGHT TESTING

The Tiger program is now in the weapon system development and qualification phase. The five prototypes representing the different Tiger versions have logged close to 2,000 flying hours in testing characterized by a large variety of weapons tested and by the geographical dispersal of activities at the French and German industrial plants and the different Government firing ranges. The anti-tank weapon system (German UHT and French HAC versions) is dedicated to day and night operations with an IR platform slaved to a helmet display. Test areas have been the development of the sights slaving unit and optimization of the IR camera's automatic control system. The firing envelopes of the anti-tank wire guided HOT missile and of the air-to-air STINGER missile have both been demonstrated. The anti-tank TRIGAT fire and forget missile chosen by the French and German Armies has performed firing separation trials from a Eurocopter PANTHER hack helicopter and the first guided missile firing has been successfully performed. The weapons systems for the HAP Combat Support version is developed for the French Army. The firing envelopes have been demonstrated. Test results have shown that the 30 mm turreted gun and the MATRA MISTRAL air-to-air missiles can be fired throughout the helicopter’s flight envelope (airspeed, attitude, load factor). The gun fire control computer algorithms have been evaluated during several firing campaigns with air-to-ground inert or acoustic detection targets. Operational combat scenarios have been established for final qualification of the MISTRAL air-to-air missile firing tests, performed on drones. The rocket firing envelope has been demonstrated with a first evaluation of the accuracy and scattering.