Airbus Helicopters H225M Caracal

[Sparkplug]

Prima formaat voor deze taak...denkt Airbus blijkbaar ook zo over. En veel goedkoper en efficiënter dan het voor deze taak in dienst houden van steeds oudere C130s....de A400M is er namelijk (nog) niet echt voor geschikt blijkt.

Vergeet niet dat de nieuwe C-130J al voor deze taak wordt gebruikt. De Hercules uit het artikel is een USMC KC-130J.

Het is wel de bedoeling dat de A400M t.z.t. als tanker zal gaan vliegen.

[Elzenga]

De C295 is te klein voor deze rol dat beperkt juist de endurance van de C295, dat snap jezelf toch ook wel en hou je er rekening mee dat de  C295 qa grote vergelijkbaar is met een Fokker F50?

Vind het een prima formaat voor deze taak!...denkt Airbus blijkbaar ook zo over. En veel goedkoper en efficiënter dan het voor deze taak in dienst houden van steeds oudere C130s. De A400M is er namelijk niet echt voor geschikt blijkt (en ze hebben nog geen oplossing daarvoor)...

[Ace1]

Lijkt me binnen Europa een mooie (extra) taak voorhttp://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1013/Buitenland/article/detail/4179895/2015/11/06/Vluchtelingen-zijn-georganiseerde-invasie.dhtmls...Tactical Aerial Refuelling (to increase the radius of action for combat SAR or Special Ops helicopters)
http://militaryaircraft-airbusds.com/aircraft/c295/c295about.aspx

De C295 is te klein voor deze rol dat beperkt juist de endurance van de C295, dat snap jezelf toch ook wel en hou je er rekening mee dat de  C295 qa grote vergelijkbaar is met een Fokker F50?

De rol die jij wilt lijk mij meer geschikt voor de  A400M

http://www.c295.ca/wp-content/uploads/a400m-tanker-data-sheet.pdf

[Elzenga]

Lijkt me binnen Europa een mooie (extra) taak voor C-295s...Tactical Aerial Refuelling (to increase the radius of action for combat SAR or Special Ops helicopters)
http://militaryaircraft-airbusds.com/aircraft/c295/c295about.aspx

[Sparkplug]

Opération Barkhane: First Operational Helicopter Refueling

French air force | November 06, 2015


The French air force has carried out its first operational in-flight refueling of a helicopter when a US Marine Corps KC-130 tanker refueled a French AF Caracal in Africa. France currently lacks suitable tankers of its own. (French AF photo)

In late October, a Caracal helicopter belonging to the 1/67 "Pyrénées" squadron detached to N'Djamena (Chad) was refueled in flight by an American C-130 Hercules.

The vastness of the Sahel desert, and the long distances involved, are a major logistical challenge for the airmobile force that is continuously supporting the troops deployed on combat operations on the ground. In-flight refueling of helicopters overcomes much of this constraint.

Operated to transport supplies and maintenance personnel, Caracal now offers the airmobile component the benefit of a longer operational range. This in-flight refueling by an American C-130 opens up new possibilities in terms of planning and conducting operations.

The airmobile component of the Barkhane Force has 17 helicopters, spread over bases in Gao, N'Djamena and Madama. Over 5,000 flight hours have been logged on missions to support and assist the deployment of combat forces throughout the Sahel-Saharan strip.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/168536/french-helicopter-in-first-operational-mid_air-refueling.html

[dudge]

"We are very comfortable moving forward with the Tiger, that will have a number of projects that will be very convincing. More than would be requested as an offset," he says.

Dat zou het wel een mooi setje maken.

[Harald]

Als het toch nog "knapt" met Airbus, dan heeft Bell nog wel een aanbieding ... 

Bell offers AH-1Z, UH-1Y to Poland

Bell Helicopter is planning to offer its AH-1Z attack helicopter to Poland for a forthcoming requirement to replace the Mil M-24s operated by the country's land forces.

"We can provide the most cost-effective solution and state-of the-art helicopter with unmatched capability for Poland," says Joel Best, regional director, military business development at the US manufacturer.

"We are very interested in co-operation with Poland and in next few months we want to create Zulu Team with companies in the Polish defence sector," he says.

Intriguingly, Bell is also touting the UH-1Y utility variant as a back-up plan in case Warsaw's proposed tri-service order with Airbus Helicopters for 50 H225Ms falls through.

"If something happens with the Caracal deal, Bell will be happy to provide an attack and utility combination, with 85% of technical commonality and significant cost saving," adds Mike Gleason, international military business development at Bell.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/bell-offers-ah-1z-and-uh-1y-helicopters-to-poland-416339/

[Sparkplug]

Airbus Helicopters confident on Polish H225M contract

By Domonic Perry, London | September 3, 2015

Airbus Helicopters remains confident of signing a final contract with Poland by year-end covering the country's purchase of 50 H225M Caracals for all three branches of its armed forces.

The manufacturer was shortlisted for the deal in April and the acquisition has now been cleared by Warsaw's defence ministry. Negotiations between the manufacturer and the ministry of economy covering a proposed offset package will begin shortly, says Airbus Helicopters chief executive Guillaume Faury.

"It is the only remaining part of the contract to be finalised and we will start [the process] in the next days. We have reached an important milestone," he says.

Although the talks with the ministry are yet to begin, Faury says he expects the contract to be signed off by the end of 2015.

Airbus Helicopters has proposed a number of initiatives with Polish industry for the deal, including the establishment of a final assembly line for the H225M in the city of Lodz.

More broadly, it sees the nation as becoming a key centre for design and engineering resource, both for it and the wider Airbus Group.

"We want to rely more and more on Polish industry," says Faury.

"Airbus is the only group to have the desire and capacity to invest in Poland for the full ecosystem of an OEM." Other European companies are too small, he notes, while international firms are not interested in the same degree of industrial co-operation.

There remains, however, one further hurdle for Airbus Helicopters to clear in the form of a court case instigated by AgustaWestland's Polish subsidiary, PZL Swidnik, which had proposed the AW149 for the requirement.

It alleges multiple breaches of the tender process by Poland's defence ministry and asks for the contract – which Sikorsky also fought for – to be annulled without any winner being declared.

Faury remains unmoved by the legal threat, however, pointing out that PZL Swidnik had employed the same tactic, to little effect, in 2008 when it lost a competition – won by the-then Eurocopter – to supply emergency medical services helicopters to Poland.

"The Ministry of National Defence and Airbus Helicopters have been professional and have worked within the laws on tenders and we are confident that we will move forward with or without the claims of AgustaWestland," says Faury.

The Airbus Helicopters chief was speaking at the MSPO defence show in Kielce, where it displayed the H225M, H145M, and Tiger HAD attack helicopters.

The Tiger had, in the week before the show, performed demonstration flights for defence officials in Warsaw.

Airbus Helicopters will propose the Tiger for Poland's likely requirement to replace the Russian Helicopters Mil Mi-24s currently operated by its army.

Faury points out that as Warsaw is yet to release a tender document it is difficult to know what will be needed, but he feels that the most likely competitor will be the Boeing AH-64E Apache.

"We are very comfortable moving forward with the Tiger, that will have a number of projects that will be very convincing. More than would be requested as an offset," he says.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/airbus-helicopters-confident-on-polish-h225m-contrac-416366/

[Harald]

First Caracals for Thailand

The Royal Thai Air Force has taken delivery of an initial four Airbus Helicopters H225 Caracal medium heavy helicopters. The choppers will serve Thailand in the (combat) search and rescue (CSAR/SAR) and troop transport role.

The order for four Caracals was signed in 2012. Two additional helos were booked in 2014 for delivery to the Royal Thai Air Force next year. Operations with the first four now delivered, are expected to begin later this month.

The EC725 is an 11-ton twin-engine helicopter featuring room for 28 persons plus high-performance navigation and mission systems. In Asia, Thailand joins Indonesia and Malaysia in operating the type.

http://airheadsfly.com/2015/08/25/first-caracals-for-thailand/

[Sparkplug]

Poland defends integrity of multi-role helicopter contest

By Dominic Perry, London | August 12, 2015

Poland's defence ministry has reacted angrily to suggestions in the national media that it broke procurement rules when it selected the Airbus Helicopters H225M for a recent 50-unit tender of multi-role rotorcraft.

It is already facing a legal challenge from one of the losing bidders – AgustaWestland subsidiary PZL Swidnik – over the way the contest was handled, and the latest allegations will only add to the outcry over its decision.

But in a lengthy statement posted on the its website, Col Mariusz Tomaszewski, the ministry's legal director, defends the acquisition process and says the report in the Wprost weekly contains "inaccurate and false information".

Wprost says that four months on from the selection of the H225M in April for the tri-service deal, the contract is no closer to being finalised – particularly around industrial offsets.

With national elections due in the autumn, it suggests that officials from both the defence and economic affairs ministries are anxious to leave any decision to the next government.

In addition, it says that the H225M Caracal failed to satisfy a number of criteria in Warsaw's tender specification, therefore rendering its selection invalid.

These include the lack of a folding tail boom, issues with the infrared target designator and the speed with which the cabin can be reconfigured.

Given these issues, Wprost questions how the Caracal could have been picked over the competing AgustaWestland AW149 and Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk and S-70B Seahawk.

However, Tomaszewski says that the acquisition process was entirely legal and above board, and it insists that that the competing offers "did not meet the formal requirements" of the tender.

During verification trials in May the Caracal satisfied all of the 32 "critical parameters" tested, he says, and notes that Airbus Helicopters has promised to deliver the required specification – including items like the folding tail boom for the 14-15 examples destined for the Polish navy.

Negotiations with the France-headquartered manufacturer to determine the final contract value are ongoing, he says.

Previous reports suggested the acquisition was worth up to Zl13 billion ($3.5 billion), but Tomaszewski says the final figure will not be known until it concludes negotiations covering the provision of "a training package, simulator, and the construction of a logistics centre".

Airbus Helicopters will localise production of the Caracal as part of the deal, in partnership with Lodz-based WZL-1. AgustaWestland and Sikorsky both already have local manufacturing capabilities through their respective PZL Swidnik and PZL Milec subsidiaries.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/poland-defends-integrity-of-multi-role-helicopter-contest-415622/

[Kiteboarder88]

PZL-Świdnik launches legal fight over Polish helicopter deal

PZL-Świdnik has launched a legal action in an attempt to overturn the nation's recent selection of rival Airbus Helicopters for a 50-rotorcraft deal.

Poland's defence ministry in April picked the H225M Caracal ahead of the Polish AgustaWestland subsidiary's offer of the AW149 and Sikorsky's S-70i Black Hawk/S-70B Seahawk for the tri-service requirement.

It claims that the criteria used for the contest were "questionable" and is now seeking to have the award annulled without any bidder being selected.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pzl-widnik-launches-legal-fight-over-polish-helicopter-414035/

[dudge]

Alweer een succes .. 

Valt me steeds meer op dat de NH90 niet meer wordt aangeboden....    ... how come ?

Hoe weet je dat die niet is aangeboden?
Maar als die niet is aangeboden lijkt dat me niet zo heel verrassend, want inderdaad, zoals je schrijft, NHI heeft een flinke uitdaging om de huidige order van ruim 550 toestellen en het ondersteunen van de ruim 200 geleverde toestellen, inclusief het ombouwen van de eerdere leveringen naar de laatste varianten.

[Elzenga]

nee klopt, misschien meer iets met de aanbieder .... en iets als ; rust, problemen oplossen ... 

+1

[Harald]

Aan het budget van deze klant zal het niet liggen....

nee klopt, misschien meer iets met de aanbieder .... en iets als ; rust, problemen oplossen ... 

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Alweer een succes .. 

Valt me steeds meer op dat de NH90 niet meer wordt aangeboden....    ... how come ?

Aan het budget van deze klant zal het niet liggen....