H160 helicopter - Meta-Defense.fr

What are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Air and Space Force?

November 25, 2021January 26 2022

On the night of April 13 to 14, 2017, 5 Rafale aircraft from the Saint-Dizier base escorted by 4 Mirage-2000-5, 2 Awacs aircraft and 6 KC-135 tanker aircraft, carried out a 10-hour raid and 7000 km to strike and destroy using the 2 SCALP cruise missiles carried by each of the Rafales, the Syrian chemical installations used by the regime of President Bashar El Assad, within the framework of a tripartite coalition bringing together the United States, the Great Britain and France. Despite the significant Syrian anti-aircraft defenses implemented, all the targets targeted by the coalition strikes in…

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Can France export its future NG Nuclear Aircraft Carrier?

December 9, 2020December 11, 2020

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed, this Tuesday, December 8, the official launch of the New Generation Nuclear Aircraft Carrier program intended to replace the Charles de Gaulle in 2038, which entered service in 2001. This announcement provides some additional information and confirmations on the choices made for this program, but it also opens up opportunities on the international scene. In this article, we will study these countries which could see in the new French program, an opportunity to strengthen their own naval air capabilities. The features announced The announcement made by the President of the Republic confirms a large number of educated guesses and…

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Franco-British ANL / Sea Venom anti-ship missile ready for service

November 26, 2020November 30, 2020

On November 17, the General Directorate of Armaments carried out, on the test site of the Ile du Levant in the Var, the final test of the Anti-Navire Léger missile, or ANL, designated Sea Venom in Grande Britain, paving the way for his admission to service in the French Navy and the Royal Navy. This missile is one of the joint projects between France and Great Britain launched on the occasion of the Lancaster House agreements signed in 2010, with the FMAN/FMC anti-ship and cruise missile program and the war program MMCM mines, which also has just passed a decisive stage there is...

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By ignoring the Airbus Helicopters RACER, Europeans could miss the next technological leap in air combat

July 16, 2020July 20, 2020

The Airbus Helicopters RACER is a rapid and economical helicopter demonstrator (Rapid And Cost-Effective Rotorcraft) supported by the European Clean Sky project. It is also on the Clean Sky website that an inventory of the RACER program was published on March 20th. It would thus seem that the development of the first demonstrator is encountering two major technical difficulties, but that the schedule for the program as a whole should not be upset. Final adjustments before the start of testing The two elements affected by significant design delays are the main gearbox and the side shaft lines. Concretely, the delay accumulates…

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Defense: the revival project of the aeronautical sector holds good and bad surprises

June 10, 2020June 23, 2020

The affair had been announced quite early during the Covid-19 crisis: the French Armies will be called upon to revive the national economy. The Ministry of the Armed Forces is indeed one of the largest French investors, and mainly buys equipment designed and manufactured in France and in Europe. This is particularly the case for the aeronautical sector, which was the subject of government statements yesterday. If the aeronautics sector should have a recovery plan of 15 billion euros, almost half will be devoted to supporting the activity of Air France / KLM, which supplies a large part of the civil aeronautics sector. Several billions will be...

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With Martlet missiles, Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters will have unique firepower

May 26thJune 17, 2020

In a joint press release, Thales and Leonardo announced the first successful launch of an LMM (Lightweight Multirole Missile) missile from an AW159 Wildcat helicopter. Developed by Thales, the LMM is a light multipurpose missile developed on behalf of the British Armed Forces. Within the Royal Navy it has already been tested for sea-to-sea fire from frigates, but this is the first time the new missile (designated Martlet in the Royal Navy) has fired from a Wildcat helicopter. For the occasion, the helicopter designed by the British branch of the Italian Leonardo (formerly Westland) was equipped with its new supports...

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Italian army to acquire military version of Leonardo's AW169 helicopter

April 20thApril 22th

It was discussed since January, but it is now confirmed: the Italian army will acquire the latest addition to Leonardo's range of helicopters, the AW169. If it was already established that the device would be used in its civilian variant for the training of Italian military pilots, the declaration of purchase published by the Italian Ministry of Defense also mentions the development of an armed variant of the device, the AW169 Multi-role Advanced, or AW169MA. At the beginning of the year, the Italian armies had announced their purchase intentions in order to modernize their equipment. The Esercito Italiano (Italian Army) had then mentioned the acquisition in the years to come of helicopters…

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The Franco-British ANL / Sea Venom missile from MBDA qualified for the French Navy

March 9, 2020March 10, 2020

Since the withdrawal from service of the AS-12 missiles in the 80s, the helicopters of the French Navy no longer had the capacity to implement anti-ship missiles, with the notable exception of the Super Frelon which could implement the AM-39 Exocet missile, which also leaked and was withdrawn from service in 2010. It was to overcome this failure that the French and British agreed, in 2010, to develop a new light anti-ship missile jointly, during the agreements of Lancaster House which also focused on the development of the Future Anti-Ship Missile / Future Cruise Missile, the FCAS program of aborted combat drone, and the program of…

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The French Navy will hire 16 Dauphin and H160M helicopters this year

January 23 2020January 27 2020

In an article published in the daily newspaper Ouest-France, we learn that the French Navy will during 2020 receive the first second-hand Dauphin helicopters which will, for the occasion, be rented to a consortium between the companies DCI and Heli Union. This contract, for a period of 10 years, was notified on December 3 to December 2019, and relates to 12 Dauphin helicopters acquired second-hand from companies which used them for the benefit of oil companies in the field of off-shore in Africa. They will first be revised, modernized and adapted to the specific needs of the French Navy by HeliDax, and will replace the Alouette III and Lynx...

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Run the HIL program on the LPM: Possible? How? How to finance it?

July 18, 2018April 2th

Article published on LinkedIn on July 18, 2018 The HIL program is intended to replace a very large number of rotary wings in the 3 armies, ranging from the Alouette III of the French Navy to the Puma of the Air Force, passing by ALAT gazelles. This program is supposed to be launched during the LPM 2018-2025, for a first delivery in 2028, and it is the new H160 from Airbus Helicopters that has been selected. Today, the program covers 165 devices. The recent fatal accidents of ALAT gazelles, and the report on the very worrying MCO of rotary wings in the French armies, we…

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