FIA14: German Army Aviation Enters a New Era – Pt. 1

The helicopter forces of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) have undergone massive changes in recent years, both in organisation and equipment. This is in no small part due to the Transformation of the Bundeswehr, which was announced in October 2011 and is still ongoing. Aimed at improving operational readiness, this overhaul of the German military resulted in the much discussed Helicopter Capabilities Transfer which has affected approximately 3,500 Army and Air Force personnel. Striving for higher levels of synergy and deployability, the Bundeswehr hopes that the transfer will enable it to use its scarce helicopter resources to the fullest. Now planned to encompass an operational inventory of 64 aircraft, the complete Sikorsky CH-53G medium transport fleet has been transferred to the Air Force while the Army air corps (Heeresflieger) has in the meantime become the custodian of all German NH Industries (NHI) NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopters (TTH). Responsibility for weapon systems management of the respective aircraft changed sides in mid-2012 with the actual handover of airframes taking place from January 2013. With regard to NH90, this includes a number of aircraft, which had previously been delivered to the Air Force’s Helicopter Wing 64, these aircraft since becoming part of the Heeresflieger’s 10th Transport Helicopter Regiment.

TIGER ops in Afghanistan were ended on 1 July (Photo: Bundeswehr )

Division Schnelle Kräfte 

Recently established as a result of the transformation of the Bundeswehr, the Division Schnelle Kräfte (DSK - Rapid Reaction Division) is based on the main ground element of the former Division Spezielle Operationen (DSO). The division has also incorporated both Heeresflieger tactical transport helicopter regiments as well as the single remaining TIGER attack helicopter regiment, all former assets of the short-lived Division Luftbewegliche Operationen (DLO - Air Manoeuver Division), and its Luftbewegliche Brigade 1 (1st Air Manoeuvre Brigade). Now Germany’s main initial entry force, the new division will however continue to draw heavily on the support of the CH-53G medium transport helicopters, forty of which are being upgraded into CH-53GA aircraft by introducing a Rockwell Collins Germany Avionics Management System glass cockpit, new mission systems and a service life extension. Twenty CH-53GS and six CH-53GE aircraft will also be kept by the Luftwaffe’s Helicopter Wing 64 which today has its headquarters at the former army facilities at Laupheim. The CH-53 overall inventory also includes two aircraft which will be operated by the Manching based WTD61 test establishment of the federal office of Bundeswehr equipment, information technology and in-service support (BAAINBw). Meanwhile, non-upgraded CH-53G/G-IFR are all being phased out while the Laupheim based wing will also be the recipient of fifteen EC645T2 light utility helicopters. Once delivered, the latter will complement the CH-53GS aircraft being used for SOF air tasks.

All CH-53Gs have been handed over the Luftwaffe, here an upgraded CH-53GA (Photo: Pieter Bastiaans)

Boasting two airborne regiments, the Kommando Spezialkräfte and the recently added Dutch 11th Airmobile Brigade (Air Assault), the Rapid Reaction Division in Stadtallendorf will also be the mainstay of German Army aviation allowing it to conduct full spectrum air manoeuvre and special operations. This includes airmechanised operations with TIGER attack helicopters, air assault, airborne and tactical air landing operations with specialised infantry as well as non-combatant evacuation (NEO - MilEvakOp) operations by German Special Forces.

Equipment

In mid-March 2013, the German MoD struck a deal with Airbus Helicopters about the revision of the number of NH90 TTH and TIGER UHT helicopters on order, a move aimed at bringing outstanding orders in line with the future force structure being envisaged as part of the transformation. As a result, the Army is now planned to receive a total of 82 NH Industries NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopters and 57 Airbus Helicopters TIGER UHT attack helicopters while industry has agreed to buy back 11 TIGERs. Despite being close to the outcome that Germany’s former Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière had hoped for, who was aiming for 80 NH90 TTHs and a mere 40 TIGER helicopters, the latest deal currently has the status of a memorandum of understanding and still needs formal political approval. However, confronted with a series of cost overruns, current DefMin Ursula von der Leyen has recently contracted a consortium consisting of KPMG audit specialists, P3 Group (Ingenieurgesellschaft) consultants and law firm Taylor Wessing specialists to audit all major ongoing armament programmes of the Bundeswehr including NH90 and TIGER. With the first results of the overarching audit expected to be published in October, a formal deal on the revision of the number of helicopters on order is very unlikely to be finalised before late this year.

Due to the Helicopter Capabilities Transfer all NH90 TTH are now owned by the Heeresflieger (Photo: Pieter Bastiaans)

Meanwhile, in April the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) called on the German government to procure up to 40 additional TTHs in a move aimed at equipping a third Heeresflieger light transport helicopter regiment with NH90s. This unit would then be used to provide airmobility for a multinational operational unit as part of a European pooling and sharing scheme. If given the green light, this proposal could lead to the German military being asked to go all the way back to square one, meaning procuring 122 TTHs as initially planned, although these would then all be operated by the Army.

PAH1 Giving Way to TIGER

Current planning however indicates that all battlefield support helicopter assets of the Heeresflieger will be bundled in two light transport helicopter (LTH) regiments based at Fassberg and Niederstetten and in a single attack helicopter regiment in Fritzlar. A second attack helicopter regiment at Roth, which was planned to be re-equipped with new TIGER helicopters as well, will now have disbanded on 30 June.

The helicopter regiments themselves are being reorganised as well with the intermediate battalion level being abolished and the various Staffeln now reporting directly to the regiment.

Meanwhile, all remaining Army Bo-105 helicopters are in the process of being withdrawn from service before 2017. A total of 145 Bo-105 helicopters were still in service in late 2011, this including a number of Bo-105P1M liaison versions (Verbindungshubschrauber – VBH). Based in Roth, the 26th Attack Helicopter Regiment FRANKEN meanwhile fired its last HOT 2 missile from a Bo-105P1A1 Panzerabwehrhubschrauber (PAH) on 29 August 2013. As part of the drawdown, most of the light helicopters are being gathered at Celle which has now become the sole hub of activity with the Bo-105 with 61 aircraft still operating here in late 2013. Surplus airframes are also disassembled at Celle or offered for onward sale through VEBEG.

NH90 – Deliveries Ramping Up

The capabilities transfer process has been eased by the fact that both Luftwaffe and Army NH90 TTH configurations show a great deal of commonality. The differences between the Air Force and Army variants are limited to an additional multifunctional display in the cockpit of the Air Force variant (five instead of four), an additional chaff/flare pack on both sides of the fuselage (three instead of two), cargo straps in the passengers compartment and a floor winch which is only fitted in the Air Force configuration. In addition, only the Air Force variant can be equipped with flotation gear.

The German Army received its first NH90 in 2006 and the 10th Transport Helicopter Regiment in Fassberg received its first NH90 on 4 May 2011 with earlier deliveries having gone to the Army aviation school in Bückeburg. The German NH90 programme has since matured with Initial Operational Capability (IOC) helicopters mostly having given way to Enhanced Initial Operational Capability (IOC+) configuration aircraft. A limited number of Full Operational Capability (FOC) NH90 TTHs have meanwhile been introduced at both the German Army aviation school in Bückeburg and the Fassberg based regiment.

Speaking to WT during the NH90 product conference which was held at the Heeresfliegerwaffenschule (HFWS) in Bückeburg in late June, former S3 staff officer of Fliegende Abteilung 101 Lt.Col Andreas Zahn explains: “At this moment twelve Forward Air Medevac (FAM) configured IOC+ NH90s have been delivered to the regiment, four of which are still deployed to Afghanistan. Another IOC+ aircraft is present while Fassberg now fields one or two FOC helicopters. The regiment’s full complement of 32 aircraft should be reached by 2017.”

Each software upgrade being introduced provides NH90 users with a new range of improvements. IOC+ has brought improvements in mission planning by incorporating the Airbus Defence & Space (DS) Eurogrid digital map generator ahead of the introduction on FOC aircraft while also featuring de-icing capabilities and improved performance of the RTM 322 engine. There have been some problems with the Eurogrid system during operations with the NH90 in Afghanistan, this resulting in an interim buy of Garmin GPSMAP 695 portable GPS systems. Caused by a mismatch between measurements from the helicopter’s radar altimeter and data provided by the map generator, with a too narrowly defined failure protocol in Eurogrid’s software leading to the navigation system becoming inoperative in a number of cases, the problem with the Eurogrid system was quickly overcome. The introduction of the latest FOC airframes has seen reliability of the NH90 surge, in part due to the FOC TTH featuring more stable avionics.

Modern Mission Systems

Modern mission systems such as the Selex Galileo FLIR 111 forward looking infra-red (FLIR) featured on both the TIGER UHT and NH90 TTH provide German aircrews with a much better situational awareness than with legacy helicopters while low light level night flying capabilities have significantly improved, especially since the advent of Configuration 3 of the Thales TOPOWL helmet-mounted sight/display (HMSD).



Many of the early teething problems with NH90 have in the meantime been overcome. Ground clearance has improved with the introduction of shortened antennae while swivelling mounts became available for fitting machine guns in the door openings. The cargo floor is now less prone to puncturing although some floors show an occasional dent. However, one of the more recent findings is that the current 7.62mm Rheinmetall MG3 machinegun provides inadequate suppressive fire. This has been acknowledged by personnel who operated the Forward Air Medevac (FAM) configured IOC+ NH90 TTH over Afghanistan and Germany now has a requirement for a FN Herstal M3M or similar .50in (12.7mm) heavy machinegun for its NH90s. It has also been reported that communications between pilots and loadmasters on board the FAM NH90s is inadequate. In an effort to remedy this, NHI is proposing a new wireless intercom system which could be used to improve communications during hoisting, formation flight and personnel recovery missions.

With the advent of FOC aircraft, the MilOWS laser based Military Obstacle Warning System is being introduced on NH90 TTH helicopters for the German Army. This system is part of the Airbus DS SferiSense range of laser detection and ranging sensor systems. Based on feedback from Afghanistan, NHI is now proposing a system that enables advanced synthetic vision for operating in degraded visual environments such as in dust during brown out, in snow, or in very low light conditions. Going by the name of Sensor Supported Pilot Assistance, this comprehensive system would use sensor and database information originating from existing equipment such as MilOWS and Airbus DS’ SferiAdvise range of navigation aid and mission management systems. Similar to ESG’s SeLa sensor based landing system on the CH-53GS/GE, a Near Field Observation System could also be added, this providing dust penetrating obstacle detection with an option to incorporate small arms fire detection as well. The need for such a comprehensive system was underlined in August 2013 when one of the NH90s deployed to Afghanistan suffered a mishap during a brownout landing. This resulted in its starboard main landing gear collapsing which caused structural damage to the airframe’s starboard sponson. Diagnosed by personnel from the Kooperative Modell Zelle (KMZ) NH90/TIGER, part of the air force’s Systems Center 22 stationed at Airbus Helicopters’ facilities in Donauworth, this necessitated an early return of the damaged aircraft to Germany for repairs while a replacement aircraft had to be flown in.

IT Woes

Part of the revamp of Germany’s rotary wing fleet, the introduction of the Standard-Anwendungs-Software-Produkt-Familien (Standard Appliance Software Product Family – SASPF) business management system provided an additional challenge during the introduction of new aircraft types such as the NH90. SASPF helps manage the logistics processes with their resulting maintenance aspects. Before it can generate near-real time management information though, the system first needs to be filled with data which has proven to be a time consuming process. Another IT solution introduced across the Bundeswehr fleet of NH90, TIGER and CH-53GA helicopters is the Airbus DS Einsatz Unterstützungsanlage (EUA) computer-based operations support system (OSS). This system integrates Germany’s modern rotary wing assets into the integrated military command, which is enabled by the Army air corps’ information system (HERGIS - Heeresflieger-, Gefechtsführungs- und Informationssystem) and the German Army’s overarching C4I System (FüInfoSys Heer). Concurrently, EUA also enables connection to SASPF.

End of the Line for UH-1D

Meanwhile, the end is nearing for the Army’s venerable Bell UH-1D light transport helicopter with the “Huey” now planned to end its service life with the 30th Transport Helicopter Regiment in Niederstetten in late 2016. The Bundeswehr UH-1D inventory was reduced from 78 to 58 during 2012 and numbers have continued to dwindle since. With the Luftwaffe also giving up its UH-1D fleet due to the Helicopter Capabilities Transfer, the German Army has assumed responsibility for conducting search and rescue (SAR) in mainland Germany with the ageing helicopter operating out of Holzdorf, Nörvenich and Landsberg for this purpose. German Army aviation is now also running the SAR headquarters (Leitstelle) based in Münster. However, this is planned to be incorporated into the headquarters of the Rapid Reaction Division in Stadtallendorf. Surplus aircraft are also being disposed off at Niederstetten while the regiment based here is expecting to receive its first NH90s in 2016.

The German army air corps has been participating in the series of exercises run by the EDA's Helicopter Training Programme, here a UH-1D during ex Hot Blade 2013 in Portugal. (Photo: Pieter Bastiaans);