Tiger ARH

Hey guys,

Where are we up to on the Tiger? Are all 22 up and running and conducting Close Air Support training exercises with either our Special Forces or any other the Battalions from the Royal Australian Regiment?

Cheers,

Simon

The Tiger is not a CAIRS machine. It can provide limited direct fire support, but is primarily an armed reconnaissance capability.

Yes, the aircraft has conducted training in support of FORCOMD and SOCOMD units. IMHO, no capability is operational until it is deployed on operations.

That's an expensive upgrade for the Army to go from an OH-58 Kiowa observation/scout helicopter worth about $5 million when they could have upgraded it to an OH-58F when a Tiger ARH ranges in price from €27-35 million Euro if it's just going to be used as a scout helo rather than an attack helo for CAS.

With that amount of money you could have upgraded the Kiowa fleet and then looked at purchasing other attack helos specifically for Close Air Support of our troops whether at home or on deployment such as the new Bell AH-1Z Viper at US$31 million or the tried and tested Bell AH-1 SuperCobra that could operate from our new LHD warships or lastly the well known and exported AH-64D Apache Longbow.