Eurocopter Tiger HAP / HCP
France's escort and fire-support Tigre — a 30 mm chin turret, rockets and Mistral missiles · First flight 1991 · In service 2005
The Tiger was developed by Eurocopter — formed from the helicopter divisions of Aérospatiale and DASA — for France and Germany. The first prototype flew on 27 April 1991. The French close-support version was first called Gerfaut, a name dropped in 1993. The HAP (Hélicoptère d'Appui Protection) carries a chin-mounted 30 mm GIAT 30 cannon, 68 mm rockets or 20 mm gun pods and Mistral air-to-air missiles, with a roof-mounted sight above the cockpit.
The first official delivery to the French Army took place on 18 March 2005, and 40 HAPs had been delivered by 2012. Spain took six HAP-Es, which entered service in 2005 and were retired at the end of 2020. The HCP was a multi-role export version derived from the HAP.
French HAPs deployed to Kabul in July 2009 and were later used in Libya from June 2011 and in Mali from 2013. No further HAPs are being built; French HAP-F aircraft are being brought up to the HAD standard.
