2024-02-29 09:35:00
Beware of danger for Europe! The memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday evening between the American group Bell Textron and Italian Leonardo to assess cooperation opportunities in the field of military helicopters, particularly tilt rotors, will constitute a real challenge for European defense in the context of NATO’s conceptual study on the transport helicopter of the next generation (NGRC, acronym for Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability). “The cooperative effort will begin in earnest with NATO Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC) Conceptual Study No. 5, where Leonardo will lead a proposed tilt-rotor architecture with support by Bell », Leonardo estimated in a press release. It is indeed a very good operation from the point of view of Italy in general, and of Leonardo in particular.
« Today might mark a historic day for the helicopter industry as #Leonardo et @BellFlight signed a #MoU to join forces on military tiltrotor technology. Gian Piero Cutillo, general director of #LeonardoHelicoptershighlights the strong, shared vision of the unique advantages of tilt rotors to shape the next generation of rotorcraft technologies », tweeted Leonardo during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
High speed, an unshared operational issue
According to the Italian group, “As global leaders in the design, manufacturing and support of helicopters for commercial and military applications, Bell and Leonardo share a decades-long history of industrial cooperation on traditional helicopters as well as tilt-rotor technology”. Leonardo has indeed always strongly supported tilting rotor technologies “to meet the changing requirements of rotorcraft, especially as new needs emerge in the market”.
It is very clearly the need for high speed that Leonardo supports and which has so far been expressed by the United States based on the one they identified for operational concepts in the Indo-Pacific region (Taiwan). Bell is delighted to have a strong beachhead in Europe. “We are proud to deepen our relationship with Leonardo as we continue to explore new vertical lifting programs in Europe and the United States”welcomed Bell CEO Lisa Atherton.
“High speed as the sole criterion for choosing future platforms would be simplistic in view of the needs inherent in French aerocombat doctrine. Gains in speed would be an added value that will have to be gauged in the light of the compromise to be made with the other technical specificities of the platform,” the Aviation Commander explained in July 2023 in an interview with La Tribune. light of the land army (ALAT), General Pierre Meyer.
It is therefore on this last technological point which will later be reflected on the operational level that Europe is torn apart, and more particularly France and Italy. “We, in Europe, do not necessarily have the same geography and the same needs as the Americans”recalled Monday in an interview with La Tribune the president of Safran Helicopter Engines, Cédric Goubet. European countries will have to express their operational needs corresponding to the real needs of their forces and not necessarily copy them to a need expressed by the Americans. But at through this agreement with Bell, Leonardo brings the wolf into the fold not only within the framework of European (and French) strategic autonomy but also within the framework of the competitiveness of the European defense industry and the helicopter sector.
A real challenge for Europe
Faced with the United States which wishes to impose its solution, the whole question today is whether the European countries will want a solution « Made in Europe » when the question of launching new generation helicopters arises in 2035/2040. Today, Europe has understood that it absolutely must create the conditions to develop the technological building blocks for this new generation of helicopters, which will need at least a power of between 3000 and 4000 horsepower.
This is also the whole challenge of the ENGRT (European Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies) program selected among the priorities of the European Defense Fund. For the European helicopter industry, the priority today is to secure phase 2 of ENGRT in 2024 in principle. This is also the challenge of convincing European countries to launch a specific call for proposals on the motorization of these future platforms beyond the ENGRT program within the European Defense Fund (EDF).
“As part of NATO’s NGRC program, European countries must have the challenge of supporting European industry by defining their needs for the new generation. They will have to choose between the need for autonomy, connectivity and high speed. Be careful not to necessarily align yourself with the concept of high speed chosen by the Americans. The operational needs of Europe are not necessarily those of the Americans,” the CEO of Airbus Helicopters, Bruno Even, explained in June 2023 in an interview with the Tribune.
How will the different architectures of future platforms be structured between the two main European manufacturers, Airbus and Leonardo? “We are excited to evaluate new joint efforts for the next generation of rotorcraft technologies, based on our strong, shared vision of the unique advantages of tilt rotors”, argued Wednesday evening in the Leonardo press release the general director of Leonardo Helicopters, Gian Piero Cutillo. Until now the fight remained behind the scenes but today the battle of concepts is officially launched by Leonardo with his memorandum of understanding with Bell.
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