capability for the Marine Nationale (French
Navy) in particular, which took delivery of
the Tonnerre and Mistral amphibious support ships in 2006, which have large helicopter decks with a forward landing spot
strengthened to accommodate a CH- 53 or
Bell-Boeing V- 22 Osprey-sized aircraft.
The Boeing CH-47F solution is, perhaps, the ‘dark horse’ . On one hand it could
be one of the more expensive options,
but on the other hand, would offer a high
degree of commonality with Europe’s other
Chinook operators; principally the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Spain and the United
Kingdom. This could help to reduce costs
all around to operators through the possible pooling of maintenance assets and
spare parts. Moreover, both the Sikorsky
CH-53K and CH-47F aircraft are at the
start of their assembly. This could allow
Eurocopter to ‘bleed off’ airframes from
the existing production run for the U.S.
Marine Corps and the U.S. Army, and convert them into the heavy lift aircraft either
in the United States or at Eurocopter’s
facilities in Europe.
On one hand, the promise of American
participation, and therefore American
jobs, in the heavy lift helicopter’s production could be a key factor in encouraging
Boeing or Sikorsky’s full participation for
the project. However, both the French and
German governments will be under considerable pressure from trade unions and
parliamentarians at home to ensure that
jobs building the future heavy lifter remain
in Europe. Either way, Eurocopter will have
to walk a delicate line should it choose an
American design as the baseline airframe.
However, Maudet notes that American
participation would bring major benefits:
“The U.S. coming into the project would be
a strong asset.”
In fact, Reuters reported in March 2009
that American participation in the project
is looking increasingly likely, following discussions of the program by Department of
Defense officials. Despite that the CH-47F
is expected to remain in U.S. Army service
until at least circa 2030, with the CH-53K
flying with the USMC until at least 2040,
both services will have to consider what
heavy lift rotorcraft solution will fulfil this
role for each service after these airframes
retire. Having a heavy lift helicopter developed with European assistance and ready
to enter service in the 2030–40 timeframe
could offer significant cost savings to both
services. Moreover, commonality with
European operators would help to reduce
the support costs of the aircraft for the
Army and the Marines.
The project has also received significant
endorsement from the European Union
(EU) with General Henri Bentegeat, chief
of the EU’s Military Committee, which
gives military advice to the EU’s Political
and Security Committee (which in turn
oversees EU foreign and defence policy).
He endorsed the heavy lift program during
the EDA’s Helicopters — Key To Mobility conference, which studied methods of
addressing the perennial issues of rotary
shortfall across the European continent in
March this year.
Although a Franco-German initiative,
with the program now under the auspices
of the EDA this will enable other European
countries to participate in the project and,
crucially, bring development funds to the
table during what promises to be an expensive acquisition.
The final requirements for the helicopter are expected to be agreed by France
and Germany by 2009 and, according to
Maudet, Eurocopter will have a full concept definition of the aircraft by 2012. The
signing of a contract for the helicopters is
expected to follow soon afterwards with
initial deliveries scheduled for 2017.
This seems an optimistic schedule as
it is entirely possibly that the program
could be subject to delays. The path of
pan-European defence projects has not
always run smoothly, with the A400M
and NH-90 being two notable examples.
However, US participation in the initiative could bring the vital technical expertise required to build such a large rotorcraft. Apart from Russia, the United States
is the only country which has succeeded
in developing heavy lift helicopters and
crucially, future U.S. Marines and Army
requirements may bring much-needed
developmental funding.
