Maiden flight of the production HAP Tiger

One of the most important European helicopter programs - the Franco-German Tiger combat helicopter - has just successfully achieved another decisive milestone. The first production HAP Tiger due to be delivered to the French Army Air Corps (ALAT) took off from Marignane on 26 March 2003.

The 55-minute flight, which was like a typical production helicopter acceptance flight, was under the control of test pilot Jacques Larra, and flight test engineer Bernard Jansonnie. The complete flight envelope was explored, and no problems were reported.

After the flight, Jacques Larra noted that "everything went exactly as planned, which is a promising sign of a well controlled industrial process."

The weapons system of the Tiger HAP Combat Support Helicopter includes a 30 mm turret-mounted gun (GIAT) slaved to the pilot's or gunner's helmet-mounted sight, rockets (TDA), and Mistral air-to-air missiles (MBDA).

Thanks to its size and stealth features, the HAP is ideally suited to the various forms of localized conflicts, where it can - completely independently - acquire, identify and process targets.

France and Germany have ordered a first block of 160 Tiger helicopters, and Australia has ordered a total of 22. With a turnover in 2001 amounting to 30.8 billion euros, EADS is the second largest aerospace and defense company worldwide. The EADS Group employs over 100,000 people, and is one of the world market leaders in defense technologies, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, and associated services. The EADS Group includes the commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's No. 1 helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter, the space company Atrium, and the world's No. 2 guided missile manufacturer MBDA. EADS is also the major partner in the Euro fighter Consortium, and develops the A400M military transport aircraft. EADS has more than 70 production sites in France, Germany, Spain and Great Britain, and is active on all the world markets, including the United States and Asia.

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