Land Forces 2014: Lessons from French Tiger combat operations | ADM September 2014

French Army Tigre (Tiger) helicopters have been continuously conducting real operations for six years, working in different and demanding environments such as Afghanistan, Mali, Somalia and Libya and the lessons learned have proven very useful for French rotary wing teams.

These French operations and the experiences of Germany Army (Bundesheer) Tigers recently deployed to Afghanistan have been closely observed by the Australian Army and the lessons learned used to inform the domestic Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program.

France first used the Tiger HAP (Hélicoptère d'Appui Protection, or Support and Escort Helicopter) variant operationally in Afghanistan in July 2009, following the deployment of a light aviation regiment (regiment d’hélicoptères de combat, or 5e RHC) from its base in Pau on the northern edge of the Pyrenees, to Kabul.

Up to twelve Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter) Tigers could be engaged in operations by the French Army, from a total fleet of 42 helicopters, but in practice this level has never been reached.

The deployment of this air support followed the death of 10 French soldiers in Afghanistan on August 18 2008. The French Prime Minister announced a reinforcement of the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets and close air support capabilities (CAS) available to French forces in the country. Two Aerospatiale Gazelle ‘Viviane’ helicopters (fitted with the Thales Viviane roof-mounted thermal imaging system) were the first to arrive in October 2008, but the Tigers needed additional equipment, such as NATO compatible radios and external additional ballistic protection to protect the crew before they could be deployed.

Operations in Afghanistan
The 5e RHC teams were keen to begin operations, representing the first combat missions for many years. Initial missions proved that their training had prepared them well for the task at hand. French pilots practice mountain flights in France, and were not intimidated by the Afghan peaks. They also had a great understanding of the performance of their choppers in hot and high conditions.

They were quickly used by ground commanders on missions which included convoy escort by day or night, close combat attack (CCA) and reconnaissance. The latter was the main duty of the Gazelles, which were later also used for precise attack duties, using the MBDA HOT (Haut subsonique Optiquement Téléguidé Tiré d'un Tube, or High Subsonic Optical Remote-Guided, Tube-Launched) air to ground missile.

A special procedure was developed to extract downed helicopter crews (or ground soldiers in need of urgent evacuation) on the wheels of the Tiger. This was actually invented by allied Apache helicopter teams in the Kandahar Province of southern Afghanistan. On the Tiger, this procedure was later adapted to carry one person on each stub-wing, instead of the wheels. Each Tiger pilot was issued with a special restraining belt to secure him or herself to the wing surface for the short extraction flight.

Coming from the older Gazelle, the Tiger crews were very happy with their Thales Strix sights, TopOwl helmet-mounted sight and display and the accuracy of the 30mm Nexter gun. However the 68mm unguided rockets weren’t the best weapons to combat asymmetric threats in Afghan villages.

In a few missions, Tigers and Gazelles were jointly used to as counter-IED teams and in one operation in Kapisa (northeast of Kabul), a Tiger was used to destroy the wall of a compound with its 30 mm gun, and a wire guided HOT missile was fired again a vehicle borne IED which was ready to use.

Many Tigers received Afghan 7.62mm bullets hits but all returned home. Combat maintenance procedures successfully allowed as many Tigers as possible to be available for operations.

On other missions, Tiger and Sperwer SDTI tactical unmanned aerial vehicles launched from the French ‘Tora’ forward operating base (FOB), south of Kapisa province, were employed together for search and destroy missions: the UAV was tasked with the detection of Taliban fighters and the Tiger performed hard kill capability with its rockets. One of the shortcomings was that this system lacked precision and reactivity, because the Tiger crew had no picture of the target, relying on GPS co-ordinates given by the operators of the UAV, but nevertheless the strikes were found to be very accurate.

In one instance, the Tiger was also engaged on night mission to provide fire support during an allied special operations forces (SOF) extraction. A pair of Eurocopter Caracal (Super Puma) helicopters had to extract a SOF team of US and French commandos who were on a mountain ridge and under fire. The Tiger was selected as the most capable response to support the extraction of the troops back to Kabul, using rockets and the 30mm cannon. The video of this CCA operation was unfortunately posted on YouTube social media some weeks afterwards, revealing the Tiger’s capabilities and divulging accurate data on gun and rocket performance.

Afghanistan was also the initial operational trial for SOF Tiger crews. The helicopter was integrated at that time into a newly-formed squad known as EOS 6 (escadrille d’opérations spéciales, or special duties wing number 6) inside the 4e RHFS (regiment d’hélicoptères des forces spéciales or special operations army aviation regiment number 4), based in Pau. At that time, the regiment hadn’t enough Tigers to deploy its own aircraft, but it sent pilots to develop their skills in this demanding environment.

Four years of Afghanistan fights helped these conventional crews and special units to improve their tactical knowledge. Only one aircraft was lost in a hard landing after a collision in a mountainous area on a very dark night, but the reinforced airframe proved extremely crashworthy and the crew survived with only light injuries.

Lessons learned
The French ALAT (Aviation Legere de l'Armee de Terre, or Army Aviation Corps) was very pleased with the deployment of Tiger to Afghanistan, finding its availability for operations very high and not affected by the sand and dust prevalent in its harsh operating environment. Special Mobi-Mat landing mats had been bought from Deschamps for tactical operations but weren’t really used, because tactical runways were made of concrete (in Kabul) or rocks (in the FOBS).

The crews were also equipped with CIRAS (Combat Integrated Releasable Armor System) and CIACS (Combat Integrated Armor Carrier System) ballistic vests procured from the Eagle Industries in the US. SOF crews also wanted a compact self-protection weapon and the Heckler & Koch MP7 was trialled, which became their regular personal weapon.

The 4e RHFS also developed a special glove-mounted compact lamp, combined with a laser designator, to illuminate the cockpit at night. This was awarded a special innovation prize in June 2014.

But Tiger HAP had some shortcomings. Ground troops for instance, wished the helicopter had a greater endurance because they considered its unique sound when flying above them signified a level of protection. The Taliban had great respect for the Tiger’s weapons load and accuracy, but they also knew its short endurance, and waited for the helicopter to return to the FOB before launching an attack on French platoons.

The development of a new combat auxiliary tank was then launched, which can be used on operations. The SOF teams had already been flying with a single ferry tank fitted to one pylon (balanced by a rocket pod on the opposite station) which offered a total endurance of more than three flight hours.

French Army Aviation also wanted new dedicated warheads for its rockets, dedicated to anti-personnel operations as the then current warhead was orientated for use against armoured vehicles and main battle tanks and therefore not very useful in Afghanistan.

TDA, a Thales subsidiary, had already launched an evolution of its 68 mm rocket, with a semi-active laser homing, but although Army Aviation wanted a quick result a lack of funding delayed the development of this technology and it is now not expected to be deployed until the end of this decade.

In long list of lessons learned, French Army Aviation determined that in the future it would need a tactical data link to connect the Tiger with the ground and UAV capability. Flight testing in France has since demonstrated the down-link of imagery from Tiger’s Strix sight, which in the future could be used by Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs), or for ground commanders to have an airborne view of tactical operations.

The Israeli Defence Force has already demonstrated a tactical data link to enable use of imagery of a tactical UAV and this will be an operational requirement in the years to come. The French Army is to buy the Thales Watchkeeper UAV, which offers 15 hours endurance.

Libya, Somalia and Mali
During war in Libya in 2011, the French Army used only a small number of Tigers, due to the ongoing involvement in Afghanistan, but they operated from the French Navy’s two BPC (bâtiment de projection et de commandement, similar to but smaller than, the Canberra-class LHD) vessels, Mistral and Tonnerre.

Two Tigers of the 4e RHFS were also engaged from a BPC off the Somali Coast in on January 2013 as part of a covert but ultimately unsuccessful operation to try to free a French hostage, belonging to the French Secret Service (DGSE). Nothing was said by the French government about this covert operation, but unofficial sources suggest that the Tiger allowed the hostage rescue team (HRT) to depart in the most favourable conditions possible, protecting up to four Caracals during the extraction of the HRT.

The war in Mali started the same day, on the opposite part of Africa and for this operation the Tiger was the centrepiece of CCA capability and up to eight aircraft were sent to Africa. The Tigers had only returned from Afghanistan some weeks before and were immediately requested by the SOF commander, whose troops had been based in Burkina Faso, south of Mali, since 2010.

SOF teams commenced operations on the first day with two unprotected Gazelles, but one was shot down (and later destroyed at ground by a SOF QRF squad) and the other one was also hit. Its pilot, Major Damien Boiteux, was killed, and became the first helicopter crewman to lose their life in the 20-year history of 4e RHFS.

Tigers rapidly became the first line of attack after some were airlifted quickly from Pau aboard a leased Antonov An-124. From then on, the 4e RHFS participated in all major operations in central Mali, Gao, Tombouctou and Tessalit. One was hit by 26 bullets but still able to fly back to Tessalit, the nearest French base, proving once again the Tiger’s ballistic protection measures. At the time of writing in early August, only three Tigers remain in Mali, undertaking conventional operations.

Uprated Tiger
From 29 June to 29 July 2014, operational trials of the upgraded Tiger HAD (Hélicoptère d'Appui Destruction, or Fire-Support and Destruction Helicopter) were carried out in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa, in hot, dusty and harsh conditions. The HAD variant includes AGM-114 Hellfire missiles as used by Australia’s Tiger ARH, but also with uprated Turbomeca MTR-390E (Enhanced) engines, each offering 14 per cent more power.

During the trials period weapons trials were successfully undertaken, with the full range of missiles, rockets and guns being tested and the first operational deployment with the French Army will shortly be undertaken in Mali.

France will eventually have a total of 60 Tiger HADs, comprising a number of new-build airframes and some and converted HAPs and the total HAP/HAD fleet will eventually be 80 helicopters, a long way short of the 215 the country intended to buy when the program was launched in the 1980s.

Table.1 French Army Tiger Operations

* 3 Tigers are currently in Mali as of August 2014. A first Tiger HAD is to be deployed this (northern) autumn.