00:01Hello friends, in late September of this year, the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia confirmed
00:06to Ukrainian media something that sounds absurd at first glance, and that is that Kyiv had withdrawn
00:11its request to obtain the Tiger Attack helicopters that Australia is retiring. In other words,
00:16a country that has spent years begging for every available aircraft in the world,
00:20said no to Australia, which was finally willing to transfer an entire fleet of advanced attack
00:26helicopters at no cost. The confirmation arrived just a few days after the Australian Department
00:31of Defense announced, on September 23, the end of flight operations for the Tiger system in Darwin,
00:37which led many to believe that the Canberra government was slamming the door in the Ukrainians' faces.
00:42The reality is that the request was formally submitted in 2024, was reviewed throughout 2025,
00:48and was finally withdrawn in early 2026, all in complete secrecy.
00:53At first, I thought it was crazy for Ukraine to reject these aircraft.
00:58Certainly much more modern than the Milmi-24 Heinz, that army aviation still has to fly on the front
01:04lines. But I started comparing the reasons reported by the ambassador with what Australia itself
01:09concluded about operating this weapon system. And what I found is a much more reasonable explanation
01:15based on the helicopter's operational issues and limitations, rather than a lack of interest
01:20from the defenders. The machine in question is the Tiger ARH, which stands for Armed Reconnaissance
01:26Helicopter, or SEER, Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, which is the Australian version of the Tiger.
01:31The contract for this European helicopter was signed in 2001, and its 22 units entered service in 2004.
01:39Like the rest of the Tiger family, it's a tandem two-seater, with the pilot in front and the gunner
01:44in
01:44the back. In other words, the reverse of other Western attack helicopters. It is powered by two
01:49MTR 390 turboshaft engines. And a large portion of the airframe is made of composite materials,
01:56since it was born for warfare in Central Europe. Europe, where a lightweight aircraft capable of
02:01flying nap of the earth and hiding behind a ridge from enemy air defenses was needed.
02:05Its armament combines a 30-mm autocannon for close-range direct fire, 70-mm rockets for
02:12engaging area targets, and AGM-114 Hellfire fight absolvent files that allow it to strike
02:17armored vehicles from outside the range of enemy light weapons. Getting right into it. In 2016,
02:25the Australian National Audit Office, or ANO, discovered that during 2015, out of the 16 aircraft
02:32assigned to the operational fleet in Darwin, on average only 3.5 were serviceable. Meaning that
02:38out of every five helicopters on the line, just over one could actually take off in an emergency.
02:45The main issue was the flight hour cost, which ran a mere 30,000 Australian dollars as of June 2016,
02:52compared to a target of 20,000 greenbacks over 50% above budget. And the worst part was that the
03:00long-term average jumped to $39,000 per degree Fahrenheit light hour almost exactly double the
03:06target. That's why the Australian authorities, instead of demanding a fix from Airbus, the supplier
03:11company simply chose to slash annual flight hours down to 5,300 hours for the entire fleet,
03:18which split among 22 aircraft, comes to about 240 hours per hour helicopter a year, roughly 20 a month,
03:26and multiplied by the June 2016 cost racked up, an expense of $160 million Australian dollars a year,
03:32an illustrative calculation that shows how much it costs to keep this machine flying,
03:37even with reduced flight hours. Given that history, Australia decided to replace the Tiger.
03:42And in January 2021, they announced that they had chosen to acquire 29 American attack helicopters.
03:48A 64E Apache Guardian, the first of which they received in 2025,
03:52with delivery scheduled to wrap up in 2029. Given how fast the program moved,
03:58this made it possible to bring forward the Tiger's retirement, which was originally slated for 2027 or
04:032028. This is where the Ukrainians come in, who after receiving a positive response regarding the
04:09transfer of this fleet, headed to Australia to assess four factors to determine whether taking on these
04:14birds as new aircraft for the Army's attack aviation units made sense. The factors were the cost per
04:19degree Fahrenheit light hour, availability of spare parts, the technical condition of the airframes,
04:25and the configuration in which they would be delivered. Besides, they considered the costs of
04:30setting up their own crew training school and establishing a logistics pipeline for an aircraft
04:34type that hardly anyone else flies. These points are critical since every technician and every maintenance
04:41hour dedicated to this weapon system would have to be taken away from what is available for the Mi-8
04:45and
04:46Mi-24 fleets, which fly over the front lines every day. The core issue, moreover, is one of design,
04:51since the Australian ARH is derived from the French Tiger hip, an escort and fire support version.
04:57But it is not an actual IP because Australia ordered it with its own custom configuration distinct
05:02from the European variants, which in practice means that a significant portion of its parts doesn't
05:07come from the same production lines that supply the Tigers of France, Spain, or Germany.
05:11And that adaptation also included the use of US weaponry. And you already know who holds the key
05:18to that kind of weaponry. Yup, Donaldo Trompo himself. The Ukrainian ambassador explained in his
05:24interview that the Aussie Tiger carries US equipment, which is subject to ITA regulations,
05:29the set of rules through which the United States controls the export and re-export of military material.
05:34So transferring the helicopters required Washington's approval, or outright stripping out all that
05:40equipment, which would have severely limited the aircraft's combat capabilities.
05:44With the Australian Tiger being retired from service, the system is only operated by France,
05:49Spain, and Germany. And the Germans already have one foot out the door as they pulled out of the
05:55Tiger MK3 modernization program back in 2022 and planned to decommission their aircraft starting in
06:012032 replacing them with the Airbus H-145M armed variant, leaving the MK3 as just a Franco-Spanish
06:09program whose status sources describe as unpromising. The contrast with what happened to the Taipans is
06:17quite striking since in December 2023, Ukraine formally requested the transfer of the MRH-90 Taipan transport
06:24helicopters, which Australia had just retired, but Canberra refused, claiming they were not in
06:30airworthy condition, after which the fuselages were dismantled and literally buried in the ground.
06:35A painful sight, hard to forget, while the defenders were begging for any aircraft that was available.
06:42In the case of the Tiger, the roles were reversed because Australia was willing to transfer them,
06:47but this time the refusal came from Kyiv, although the decision is reasonable.
06:52Some sources have commented that Ukraine said no because attack helicopters are no longer useful
06:57in this war. But we've all seen how Ukrainian Mi-8s and Mi-24s have become the apex predators of
07:03drones
07:04Shahid and Giran from the Z-Horde, flying low, hunting, hunting them down night after night.
07:09A task where every drone shot down by a helicopter is an expensive anti-aircraft missile saved. Come on,
07:16the defenders are even using Yak-52 trainer planes, where the co-pilot shoots with a rifle.
07:21It is clear that the Tiger was more than capable of fulfilling that role, even with greater
07:26effectiveness thanks to its 30mm cannon slave to the gunner's helmet and the ability to use laser
07:32guided rockets. However, after evaluating the capabilities and limitations, Ukraine apparently
07:37felt the benefits were far outweighed by the costs of operating the system. Despite all that,
07:43it's a shame we won't get to see these helos flying low with a full load of 70mm rockets to
07:49share with
07:49Ivan or flying night missions to intercept the Girans attacking Ukrainian cities.
07:55We'll have to trust that it was the best decision to optimize the available resources
07:59forces, and that at some point, the heroic army aviation crews will get the mounts their courage deserves.
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