Airbus Helicopters CEO Does Not Expect Other Countries to Follow U.S. Army's Move to Single-Engine R66 Trainer

Airbus Helicopters CEO Matthieu Louvot said he does not expect other countries to follow the U.S. Army's shift toward smaller, single-engine helicopters for rotary-wing training. He spoke to journalists at Airbus Helicopters' MDays military rotorcraft event in Marseille, France, on Oct. 8-9.

In August, the U.S. Army selected a proposal from M1 Support Services to use the Robinson R66 single-engine light helicopter as its new rotary-wing trainer. The R66 replaces the Airbus UH-72A Lakota at the Army's flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Army leaders suggested that a series of mishaps involving front-line rotorcraft exposed deficiencies in fundamental piloting skills, including power management and recovery from spatial disorientation.

Several countries have adopted twin-engine helicopters for military flight training, with Airbus' H135 entering service in Australia, Canada, Germany and the UK. Louvot said: "I do not fear a new propagation of the American [training] concept in other customers. Customers are making their own choices, and the U.S. has made theirs, we respect it." He described the Lakota as a great training aircraft, especially for pilots transitioning to very large helicopters.

Airbus expects military training sales of its 3-metric-ton H135 to continue and can also offer the 2.4-metric-ton single-engine H125. It no longer has a helicopter at the lower end of the market: production of the 1.7-metric-ton EC120 ended in September 2017 after around 700 aircraft were delivered. The EC120, also known as the Colibri, remains France's primary rotary-wing trainer. Louvot suggested Airbus could turn to Helicopteres Guimbal, the Aix-en-Provence-based manufacturer in which it holds a stake, if France or other countries want a smaller training helicopter.

Military helicopter training splits along two philosophies. One favors twin-engine aircraft that resemble front-line types and carry a margin of safety. The other favors smaller single-engine machines that put students through demanding power-management and emergency-handling lessons at lower cost per hour. The U.S. Army's choice moves the world's largest rotary-wing training pipeline to the second camp, but each air arm weighs its own mission mix, fleet and budget, so a large buyer's decision does not automatically become a template for others.

For Airbus the commercial exposure is concentrated at the bottom of its range. With the EC120 out of production since 2017, the company covers the light-trainer niche only through the H125 and, by Louvot's own suggestion, through its Guimbal stake. Whether a customer such as France asks for a smaller type is the practical test of how far the U.S. concept travels, and it is a decision those customers have yet to make.