Thierry Dubois is a freelance writer specializing in helicopters, business aviation and aerospace technology. He earned a degree in fluid dynamics from an engineering school in Toulouse, France in the mid-1990s. At an unexpected crossroads, he found his first job in journalism. In 1997, he started working for French aerospace weekly Air &amp; Cosmos in Paris. This lasted until 2000, when he moved south to Lyons. He then became a freelancer, working for various aerospace publications and has been part of the AIN team since late 2000. In addition to writing about business aviation, Thierry shares responsibility for the rotorcraft section. He also is a regular on-site writer for AIN’s daily editions at international airshows such as the Paris, Farnborough, Dubai and Singapore shows, as well as at EBACE in Geneva.
In 2007, he won the Honeywell award for “Best systems or technology submission” at the Aerospace journalist of the year awards. In 2013, he won an Aerospace Media Award for the "Best Safety, Training &amp; Simulation Submission."
In other activities, Thierry moderates international conferences on aviation technology topics. Thierry is married and has three children, who seem to begin enjoying the mountains–as their parents do.

Writer

Thierry Dubois

Helicopter sales last year and this year in the Southeast Asia Pacific region reflect a downturn, according to Airbus Helicopters. In China, last year’s flurry of sales cannot offset the effects of the slowing economy, which are already being felt.

 


There was an overall contraction of the civil and “parapublic” (e.g. air ambulance) market in 2015, Philippe Monteux, Airbus Helicopter’s head of the region, told AIN. Airbus excludes the following Asian countries from the region: China, Japan and South Korea, which the company has regrouped in what it calls the &nbsp;“North Asia” region.

 


Monteux was speaking before Airbus disclosed its financial performance for 2015, but he could already say the trend was a 15- to 20 percent reduction in units–with roughly the same reduction in value. Nevertheless, Monteux believed his company’s market share, at above 50 percent, was intact. “We are not expecting a strong recovery in 2016,” he added.

 


China’s economy and its impact on the region has been a factor, he said. Regulation has an impact, too–“opening the airspace to helicopters is not going as fast as we could expect,” Monteux said. This is the case in a number of countries–India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia, for example. Tensions in the region do not support hopes for an accelerated expansion of available airspace, Monteux explained.

 


Low oil prices are having a huge impact on medium- and heavy-twin helicopter sales. Single and light-twin sales have been decreasing, and are suffering from the overall economy. The emergency medical service (EMS) market, for instance, is not taking off in Southeast Asia because it is often difficult to secure funding or refine the business model, according to Monteux.

 


In the long term, Airbus expects the Southeast Asia Pacific market to grow, driven by different factors, such as the need to replace aging fleets in the more advanced countries and new markets burgeoning. Last year, the region accounted for approximately 20 percent of the global market&nbsp;

 


Strong Foundation in China

 


Speaking of China, Norbert Ducrot, Airbus Helicopters’ senior v-p for North Asia, remained optimistic. “Even with the slowing economy, we believe that our strong foundation and footprint in the country will enable us to continue making good progress,” he said.

 


Airbus Helicopters last year signed major deals in Greater China. Hong Kong’s Government Flying Service (GFS) ordered seven H175s, becoming the launch customer for the 16,500-lb twin-engine helicopter in a public services configuration. The operator will use it for search and rescue, EMS, fire-fighting and law enforcement operations, as well as land and maritime border security patrols.

 


A newly formed lessor, CM International Financial Leasing Corp., Ltd. (CMIFL), is to acquire 100 H125s and H130 Ecureuil light singles over five years. The initial firm order, for 10 rotorcraft, calls for deliveries to start in 2016. CMIFL plans to offer the light singles to operators with accompanying “financing solutions.”

 


Shandong Province-based HEMS999, an air ambulance operator that is part of the MIT Group, ordered seven H130s. HEMS999’s ambition is to operate the country’s first provincial HEMS network covering traffic accidents.

 


In the same province, Airbus Helicopters and Sino-German Ecopark, a firm located in Qingdao, have signed a letter of intent to build an H135 final assembly line. Sino-German Ecopark has committed to build at least 100 examples of the light twin over the next 10 years.

 


Airbus Helicopters has several partnerships in Asia for civil product development. With China’s Avicopter, the H175/AC352 is a 50-50 joint program. However, while the H175 is in service, the first AC352 prototype has yet to fly.

 


In Japan, Airbus has been working with Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) for the last 40 years on the BK117/H145 program.

 


Airbus Helicopters’ Singapore training facility features Dauphin SAR simulator

 


In Singapore, Airbus Helicopters has a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility with an emphasis on AS365 Dauphin heavy maintenance and upgrades. A training center accommodates a full flight simulator for the AS365 N3/N3+ Dauphin versions. The simulator’s search-and-rescue capacity is a unique asset worldwide, Philippe Monteux, Airbus Helicopter’s head of the region noted, with pilots coming from as far as France and the U.S. The training center also houses a H120 flight training device.

 

 

 


Airbus Helicopters Looks to a New Dawn for its Military Business

 


The relationship between Airbus Group Australia Pacific (formerly Airbus Helicopters) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has not been an easy one. The Australian government sparked controversy when it selected both the Airbus Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) and the MRH-90 troop transport to replace/modernize its helicopter fleet.

 


The purchase of the Tiger through Project 87, was thought to bring a new level of capability beyond the existing Bell Helicopter OH-58 Kiowas and UH-1 Iroquois-based “Bushranger” gunships. But many in the Army wanted the “low risk” option of the Boeing AH-64D Apache and to simply upgrade the existing Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks that were well liked by the Army.

 


Nevertheless, Airbus (then Eurocopter) made its argument very persuasive by promising that 18 of the Tigers would be assembled by a locally established subsidiary, Australian Aerospace.

 


There is a catalogue of well documented problems with the Tiger and the MRH-90. For one, the Australian government stopped payments in June 2007 after the company failed to meet contractual deliveries regarding helicopters and delays to training.

 


The National Audit Office report in 2006 had already been critical of Airbus. After a 53-month delay, the MRH90 aircraft achieved its Australian Military Type Certificate (AMTC) and Service Release in April 2013.

 


At The Future of Military Rotorcraft conference held at the beginning of London’s Defence and Security International (DSEI) exhibition in London last summer, Rear Admiral Tony Dalton, Head of Joint Systems Division at the Australian Department of Defence, stated that the MRH-90 was “five years behind schedule now and it’s probably going to finish seven years behind schedule.”

 


Now, however, the Australian government has signed up to a mid-life upgrade (MLU) for its 22 Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH) alongside the French, German and Spanish militaries. The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (French acronym OCCAR) will be working with Airbus Helicopters to frame capability updates for what will be the Tiger Mk3.

 


During an interview in December at the main Airbus Helicopter site at Donauwörth in southern Germany, chief executive Wolfgang Schoder said that he understood why Australia has not been satisfied historically but underlined that “times have now changed.” He explained: “They are now confident in the new agreements [and] over how we have improved the situation. The performance-based maintenance has significantly improved the availability and the rate of effort of the ARH.”

 


The formation in April 2015 of a joint support center combining personnel from both Airbus Group Australia Pacific and the government’s Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) at Brisbane Airport was designed to improve the flow of engineering, supply support and technical services to the military.

 


One of the results of the incorporation of Airbus Helicopters into the Group was to move away from the “home nation” concept (Germany, France, Spain, Brazil) that many considered had created a two-tier level of customer service within the organization.

 


Schoder said that the appointment of Anthony Frazer as chief executive of Airbus Group Asia Pacific (an ex-Major General and one-time head of the Helicopter Systems Division within the DMO) would help the two parties re-establish a close relationship going forward. He added that when the Australian Army holds its exercises, “they have an extremely high rate of availability. I think we have turned in the right direction in Australia.”

 


However, others are still watching the situation carefully. During the Dubai Airshow in October, Keith Flail, vice president of global military business development for Bell Helicopter, hinted that his company was monitoring the Australian government’s position regarding the ARH Tiger and would be quick to offer its newest AH-1Z Viper as an alternative should the opportunity arise.

 


New Kid on the Block

 


The first customer in Asia for the civilian-to-military role H145M helicopter is Thailand with a total order of 11 aircraft (five for the Royal Thai Navy and six for the Royal Thai Army). The H145M is the military successor of the EC645 T2.

 


A version of the H145 is already used extensively by the U.S. Army as the UH-72A Lakota. Scott Tumpak, H145M program manager, said that the Army had already received around 350 UH-72As with another 75 still to go.

 


The aircraft was purchased on the understanding that it would not be used in combat zones although several have been deployed in the southern states to conduct Mexican border security missions using an MX-15 electro-optical turret.

 


While the Thai helicopters are likely to be used in a less benign environment (Tumpak cannot reveal the specific missions they have been bought to fulfil), the 15 being delivered to the German Bundeswehr for use by the KSK Special Forces Command have been equipped for robust operations.

 


The KSK mission package includes: fast-roping capability, with a variation in that there is an electrical release in the cockpit which can negate the need for a crewman in the rear if a full load of special force soldiers is required; a cargo-hook rated to 1600 kg, allowing two people on the same line; military seats and sniper belt, which is a stabilization device; and floats.

 


The first two H145M LUH SOF, as the German Army has designated them, were delivered in December 2015 and will be operated by Helicopter Wing 64 in Laupheim, Germany. The following two will be ready in March with the full order of 15 will be with the customer by the end of 2017.

 


According to the Bundeswehr, the total cost of the acquisition was €200 million ($217 million), which included electronic self-protection systems, ballistic protection and conversion kits for use over water.

 


Stallion Hopes

 


Airbus Helicopters is eager, though not completely guaranteed, to play a major role in the replacement of the German Air Force’s CH-53G/GS/GA Stallion heavy transport helicopters. The German government wants the replacement schedule accelerated, to begin starting in the early 2020s.

 


Although there used to be a project that would have been driven by the European Defence Agency (EDA), it fizzled out some time ago due to lack of development funds from any of the European member states.

 


So that really leaves only two contenders, either a national adaptation of the “off-the-shelf” Boeing CH-47F(+) Chinook, or waiting for the new-design Sikorsky CH-53K to be certified. However, that would mean making room in the production line along with aircraft earmarked for the U.S. Marine Corps–which has been waiting a long time for the replacement to its own aging CH-53E fleet.

 


Schoder commented: “It is clear that this [selection] will not be a new development. But the German government wants a fast procurement with low risk–which can be off-the-shelf, but filling the requirements of the Bundeswehr and making it compliant with German certification rules.”&nbsp; He talked of Airbus Helicopters adding value to any German model and also dangling the carrot of part-sourcing from German suppliers to tempt the government.

 


“Can we add value? We are in permanent discussions with both Sikorsky and Boeing–both are aware that for such a major helicopter program in Germany, Airbus will be ‘interested’ in supporting its German customer.”

 


With few, if any, prospects for more Tiger orders, and the NH-90’s reputation mired by late deliveries, the H145M, like its civil counterpart, looks to be a low-risk prospect for future military customers who do not require an all-out battle wagon. The replacement of the German Air Force’s CH-53s would substantially underwrite Airbus Helicopters’ military business for many years to come.&nbsp;

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