{"id":67503,"date":"2026-09-26T19:26:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T17:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=67503"},"modified":"2026-09-26T19:27:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T17:27:32","slug":"the-european-ec665-tiger-attack-helicopter-loses-one-of-its-four-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/09\/26\/the-european-ec665-tigre-attack-helicopter-loses-one-of-its-four-operators\/","title":{"rendered":"The European EC665 Tigre attack helicopter loses one of its four operators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bad news for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter's major European rival: the Airbus Helicopters EC665 Tigre.<\/p>\n

The display of a Spanish Army Tiger attack helicopter in Slovakia<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe BHELA I and the EC-665 Tiger HAD-E attack helicopters of the Spanish Army<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

On September 23, the Australian Department of Defence announced the upcoming end of operations for its EC665 Tigre helicopters<\/a>, flown by the Australian Army's 1st Aviation Regiment\u2014part of the 16th Aviation Brigade and based at Robertson Barracks, located at RAAF Base Townsville in Queensland.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia selected the EC665 Tigre (known in the country by its English name, \"Tiger\") on December 21, 2001,<\/strong> to replace its aging Bell OH-58A Kiowas and Bell UH-1H Bushrangers\u2014the nickname given to the armed version of the Huey in Australia. The version of the Tiger chosen by Australia was the ARH,<\/strong> a variant of the French Tiger HAP specialized for armed reconnaissance, featuring upgraded engines and the capability to fire Hellfire II air-to-surface missiles. The order was for 22 helicopters, with the initial four manufactured in Europe and the remaining 18 assembled in Brisbane, Australia,<\/strong> by Australian Aerospace, a local subsidiary of Eurocopter.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The first two Tiger ARH helicopters were delivered to the Australian Army on December 15, 2004<\/strong>. Problems soon arose, much like those the Australian Army had already experienced with its NH90s. Following delays in achieving initial operational capability for the Australian Tigers<\/strong>\u2014caused by development setbacks that impacted the rollout of their simulators\u2014the Australian government decided to suspend payments for the helicopters in 2007<\/a>, not resuming them until the following year. The helicopters did not reach final operational capability until April 2016<\/strong>, 12 years after the arrival of the first two units.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In December 2012, Australian Tiger pilots staged an unusual mutiny<\/a>, refusing to continue flying these helicopters following three incidents involving toxic fumes in the cockpit<\/strong>. It was not a new problem: as early as 2007, the Australian Tigers had recorded 24 such incidents, and flights for the 22 helicopters were suspended between March and July 2012 due to these issues<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

After such a turbulent history, in January 2021, the Australian government announced the purchase of 29 AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters<\/a>. In December 2025, a proposal to transfer its Tigers to Ukraine<\/a> was announced. The first AH-64Es arrived in Australia in October 2025. Ultimately, the retirement of the Australian Tigers has been brought forward by a year<\/strong>, as it was originally scheduled for 2027.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The withdrawal of the Australian Tigers leaves this model with only three operators: Germany, Spain, and France<\/strong>\u2014three countries that are part of the Airbus consortium, the aircraft's manufacturer. Meanwhile, the AH-64 Apache already has 19 operators<\/strong>, including four European countries: Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

---<\/p>\n

Photos: Australian Army \/ ustralian Government Department of Defence.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bad news for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter’s major European rival: the Airbus Helicopters EC665 Tigre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19630,15961,11544],"tags":[27957,27956,3193,13150,6607],"class_list":["post-67503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1a-plana-defense-eng","category-bloque-6-english","category-army","tag-16th-aviation-brigade-australian-army","tag-1st-aviation-regiment-australian-army","tag-australia","tag-australian-army","tag-eurocopter-ec665-tigre"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-03 21:23:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}