The devices subject to the mid-life update will finally be 25 fewer than those announced a year ago, and will be carried out “in cooperation with Spain”
There will not be 67, as announced last year, but 42 French attack helicopters that are going to be upgraded. They will also not reach the MkIII standard, to which it had previously committed together with Spain, although this had already been announced, and will remain in the so-called MKII+ standard, less ambitious. This was announced by the French Army within the framework of the Eurosatory fair, which brought together the international defence industrial sector in Paris from 17 to 21 June.
The goal, the source said, is to “extend the operational life of the Tiger beyond 2050, adapting it to the realities of the future battlefield.” This mid-life upgrade program of this model, he adds, “is carried out in cooperation with Spain and provides for the renewal of 42 helicopters.” In this way, it has been known that the planned upgrade does not reach the 67 helicopters of the French Army’s light aviation corps (ALAT) that was announced just over a year ago, when the French Army Chief of Staff confirmed that they would no longer go ahead with the MkIII program.
The configuration to the MkIII standard responded to an agreement signed with Spain for the modernization of 42 French units at a cost of 2,800 million euros and 18 Spanish units, for 1,180 million. The initiative suffered a first hard blow in 2022, when Germany, which is the third major user and partner of the program that developed the Tigres, finally chose not to join these plans. In this way, the update to the MkII+ standard that will finally be carried out will apply to 42 French aircraft, the number initially contemplated for the cancelled MkIII standard, and not the 67 that were subsequently targeted, when the more modest MkII+ standard was chosen.