Eurocopter Tiger is a twin-engine attack helicopter of German, Spanish and Italian production, with a metal structure in a classic arrangement with a main rotor and a tail rotor on the beam. In the basic version, the drive is provided by two Rolls-Royce / MTU 390 engines with 1183 HP each. The flight of the first prototype took place in 1991, and serial production, which only started in 2002, is still ongoing. At present (2017), it is estimated that approx. 100 copies of this helicopter have been produced.
The Eurocopter Tiger was created in response to a competition announced in 1984 by the French and German Ministry of Defense for a new attack helicopter for the armies of both countries. In order to reduce costs, a consortium of Aerospatiale and MBB was established. In the course of serial production, four specialized development versions were created, produced in – so far – in relatively short batches. One of them is the UHT version used by the German army as an anti-tank helicopter. Interestingly – this version does not have a plot.
Another is the version of the HAP used by the armies of France and Spain as a close support and escort helicopter. In general, all versions of the Eurocopter Tiger are very similar to each other and differ mainly in their weapons and avionics. Eurocopter Tiger have been used in combat in Afghanistan by France, Germany and Spain since 2009.
