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HOT firing trials on Tiger successfully completed

Unterschleissheim, 12 August 2003

The extraordinary capabilities of the fire-and-forget guided missile system LR TRIGAT, the main armament of the Tiger helicopter, having recently been demonstrated in several firing campaigns. Now at the end of July 2003 the last remaining demonstration firing of HOT from Tiger using the EADS/LFK-developed ATA firing post was carried out successfully.

Following 39 firings over four campaigns (May 1997, June 1999, May 2003 and July 2003), the HOT firing post achieved qualification on the Tiger helicopter. Stationary and moving targets were engaged at ranges between 600 and 4,000 metres, with Tiger engaging its targets both from a hovering position and from forward flight at up to 150 km/h. In this way it was demonstrated that

* the HOT weapon system achieves its extremely high hit probability of over 90 percent, also on Tiger.
* the weapon can be reliably deployed under all the specified flight conditions (including while banking or descending flight) both by day and at night, and
* the specified electro-optical countermeasure scenarios (smoke, fire and flares) could be mastered.

The firing post, from which both LR TRIGAT and HOT missiles can be launched, was developed by EADS/LFK and adapted to Tiger within the scope of the ATA development contract. Currently, series component production is taking place at Schrobenhausen for the HOT and LR TRIGAT firing posts destined for the Tiger UHT/HAC helicopters, of which the Germany Army is procuring 80 units (UHT) and the French Army 10 (HAC).

HOT is a passive long-range antitank and multipurpose guided missile system with day and night vision capabilities. The semi-automatic man-in-the-loop guidance system enables the gunner to control the missile over its whole 4,000-metre range. HOT has been installed on a range of different helicopters and ground vehicles and is in operational use in 19 countries. The HOT firing post now being prepared for deployment is equipped with a passive guidance system and therefore offers extremely high resistance against natural and artificial jammers. The latest HOT 3 generation of munitions has a tandem shaped charge and through this is not only capable of penetrating tanks equipped with additional reactive armour but is also highly effective when deployed against other targets such as buildings or bunkers.

EADS is the second largest aerospace and defence company in the world and achieved revenues amounting to € 29.9 billion in the year 2002 and has a workforce of over 100,000. It is a market leader in almost all segments of the business. In it role as systems integrator, EADS is one of the few companies worldwide capable of combining various products and technologies to form complete systems and providing the associated services. The EADS Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter and the joint venture MBDA, the second largest guided missile producer in the global market. EADS is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium, is the prime contractor for the Ariane launcher, develops the A400M military transport aircraft and is the largest industrial partner for the European satellite navigation system Galileo. The company has over 70 sites in Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain. It is active in many regions worldwide, including America, Russia and Asia.

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