Airbus Helicopters and Diehl Aerospace signed the contract today at the Paris Air Show. The Tiger MkIII programme is a major upgrade for the French and Spanish attack helicopters. As a joint venture of Diehl Aviation and Thales, Diehl Aerospace has been awarded for the development, production and customer support of the Tiger Armament Computer (TAC) and its operating system for Airbus Helicopters. With this upgrade the Tiger will remain an essential asset for European armed forces in the coming decades and will meet upcoming tasks. Representatives of both companies took a prototype of the Tiger Armament Computer (TAC) into their midst after signing the contract at the Paris Air Show. From left to right: Benno Petersen (Diehl Aerospace), Florian Maier (Diehl Aerospace), Oliver Lehmann (Airbus Helicopters), Ulrich Linnemann (Airbus Helicopters) and Marco Krause (Diehl Aerospace).
Florian Maier, CEO of Diehl Aerospace: “Europe’s armed forces need powerful helicopters. As this is more important than ever, I am proud that Diehl Aerospace contributes in equipping the Tiger MkIII with the best armament computer. I consider it exemplary how Airbus Helicopters and Diehl Aerospace prove European cooperation in such an important helicopter upgrade programme.
The computer offers outstanding processing power and meets the highest requirements on the availability of the system. Task of the TAC is to reliably control the weapons arsenal –which includes turret guns, laser-guided missiles, and rockets– even under the most severe conditions. A special advantage: The armed forces can install a wide variety of software on the TAC with highest flexibility and add additional functions at any time. With substantially increased performance, both the weight and size of the computer platform have been significantly reduced. In this way, Diehl Aerospace offers a unique combination of efficiency, flexibility, and scalability – and thus ensures the future readiness of the attack helicopter.
Diehl Aviation is a corporate division of Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG and combines all aviation activities of Diehl Group under one roof. In the aviation industry, Diehl Aviation – including Diehl Aerospace (a joint venture with Thales) is a leading system supplier of aircraft system and cabin solutions. Diehl Aviation currently has more than 4,400 employees. Its customers include leading aircraft manufacturers Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, military partners, manufacturers of eVTOL aircraft as well as airlines and operators of commercial and business aircraft worldwide.
