The Airbus Tiger ARH of the Australian Army, which is planned for replacement in the next decade. Photo c/o Australia National Audit Office.









The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) has released a Request for Information (RFI) for 29 new armed reconnaissance helicopters for the Australian Army under the Land 4503 programme.





The requirement calls for a “proven and mature, off-the-shelf” models, which reduces risks on the project after the prolonged delays that the DoD encountered on the Eurocopter (now Airbus) Tiger ARH fleet.





The new helicopter are required to fit the C-17A Globemaster strategic airlifter for transport to deployment area, and can operate from a landing helicopter dock vessel.





The new helicopters are also required to be able to work together with an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), which is most likely the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper which will introduced to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) soon.





Five of the new helicopters would be used for training, while the other 24 units will be equipping two combat squadrons based on a single location, with the first squadron reaching Initial Operational Capability levels by 2026, and Fill Operational Capability by 2028.





It is expected that the possible competitors for the project include the Boeing AH-64E Apache, Bell AH-1Z Viper, and the Airbus Tiger Mk. III which is the latest variant of the Tiger and has combat experiences in Mali and Afghanistan.







