Zain Malik
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As this ILA model shows, Boeing is likely to offer Germany the 'fat tank' CH-47F ER variant of its Chinook heavy-life helicopter once the requirements are released. Source: IHS/Gareth Jennings
Airbus Helicopters is talking to both Boeing and Sikorsky about possible future workshare in the Schweren Transporthubschrauber (STH) replacement programme for the German Air Force's ageing CH-53G heavy-lift platforms, the company's CEO said at the ILA Airshow in Berlin.
Guillaume Faury told reporters on 1 June that representatives from Airbus Helicopters have been in discussions with both US companies with a view to future involvement in either a Boeing CH-47F Chinook or Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion buy by the Bundeswehr.
"We are still waiting on the specifications from the German government, and then we will see [what workshare options might be available to us]. We will have [further] deep discussions with both companies, and then we will partner with one," he said.
Airbus Helicopters is currently responsible for supporting the air force's fleet of 66 VFW-Sikorsky CH-53G/GS/GA Stallions at its site in Donauworth, southern Germany, and is contracted to continue doing so through to 2020.
Faury was keen to state that he has no view on whether the Bundeswehr should opt for either the Chinook or the King Stallion. Wolfgang Schoder, CEO of Airbus Helicopters Germany added to Faury's comments, noting that whatever new platform the Bundeswehr opted to go with, a smooth transition would be especially important.
A formal request for proposals (RfP) for an expected 40 to 60 helicopters is expected to be issued in 2017. The selected platform should then enter Bundeswehr service in about 2022.
Both Boeing and Sikorsky used the occasion of ILA to promote their respective platforms, and to provide some more detail on their likely offerings to the German government once the requirements are known.
Boeing's director of vertical-lift programmes in Germany, Michael Hostetter, said that his company would likely be pitching the CH-47F Extended Range (ER) helicopter. This 'fat tank' version of the Chinook is already in service with Canada (CH-147F), the United Kingdom (HC6), and the United States Special Operations Command (MH-60G), with 80 having been delivered from the Philadelphia production plant to date.
