According to Airbus,
initial investigations were carried out in January at the Cincu firing range in
Romania to assess the effects of the missile launch on the helicopter. The next
step is integrating Israeli manufacturer Rafael’s Spike anti-tank missile into
the helicopter’s HForce system.
Airbus developed the
H-Force weapon platform to enable the H145M for combat tasks. With fire control
elements, various machine weapons and unguided and guided missiles can be
integrated in a modular manner.
Airbus Helicopters
integrated the missile into the helicopter. They fired after the system integration
evaluations and flight tests with the aircraft at company facilities in
Donauwörth to assess aerodynamics, drag, vibration and performance.
The fully digital
control of the turret made it possible to integrate the Spike ER2 into the
H145M architecture transforming a civilian helicopter into a cost-effective
military one.
The Spike ER2 missile weighs around 35 kg and is designed for target distances of up to ten kilometres. With new data links, the combat distance should be increased up to 16 km. The manufacturer says the new seeker head can be switched between daylight and infrared mode.
Equipped with the
HForce system, the H145M can deploy a 12.7mm machine gun, a 20mm cannon, and
laser-guided and unguided rockets up to 70mm calibre. So far, users of the
H145M are Hungary, Germany, Serbia, Thailand and Luxembourg. According to Airbus
Helicopters, and the helicopter will also be offered to the Romanian army.