It’s a win for Thales rocket systems at H145M firing campaigns in Hungary and Sweden

In ever more urban environments, the priority of armed forces is to reduce the risk of collateral damage, and in this ambition they can rely on Thales. The Group has been recently awarded a contract from Airbus Helicopters for the test of its rocket systems to boost the H145M mission capability. This contract follows the selection of both Thales rocket systems (70mm NATO and 68mm Induction) to provide such capabilities to Airbus Helicopters’ platforms equipped with its new weapon management system, “HForce”.

Key Points

• Two successful firing campaigns for Thales rockets in 2017: unguided 70mm / 2.75” rockets in Hungary and 70mm / 2.75” (FZ275) laser guided rockets in Sweden
• With Thales Laser Guided Rockets and Scorpion®, Thales contributes to increase HForce efficiency.

In October 2017, Airbus Helicopters completed a ballistic development test of an HForce weapon system equipped on an H145M platform at the Bakony Combat Training Center – BCTC in Hungary. The system test included unguided 70mm / 2.75” rockets (with “FZ231” 12 tube launcher) as well as a helmet mounted sight display Scorpion^® by Thales.

In December 2017, the test firings of Thales 70mm / 2.75” (“FZ275”) laser guided rockets were conducted on an H145M platform at the Älvdalen test range of the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Flight test Centre, in an adverse and challenging environment. With precision to within one meter, the guided air-to-ground rocket improves target engagement capabilities while reducing platform vulnerability.

These successful test firings with Thales “FZ275”, and the former ones, in 2014 from Tiger Combat Helicopter with the Thales “Aculeus” Induction Laser Guided, confirm the reliability and maturity of Thales’s Rocket Systems. Final qualification for both laser guided products is planned for end 2019.

Thanks to its very precise and unique Hybrid-Optical motion tracking (HObiT), Scorpion^® dramatically secures Crew Resource Management during critical phase before firing, saving time and avoiding any misunderstanding between Gunner and Pilot. Equipped with a full color day/night display, Scorpion^® is the new monocular helmet-mounted sight display reference for Light Armed Helicopters.

Follow our dedicated Twitter account: @ThalesDefence and watch the video of H145M successful launch of “FZ275” 70mm laser guided rocket during its firing campaign in Sweden and the video of the qualification of “Aculeus” 68mm induction laser guided rocket in 2014 in France.