Airforces

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #359 FEBRUARY 2018 // 65

Airforces

Intelligence

‘In association with ....’

RQ-7B Shadow 200 tactical UAS

flown by the 132nd Unmanned

Aerial Vehicle Battery of the

20th Surveillance and Target

Acquisition Regiment.

1st Aviation Regiment

This was initially formed in 1966

as the 1st Division Army Aviation

Regiment, before changing to its

current designation the following

year. Having previously operated

the Kiowa in the (unarmed)

battlefield reconnaissance

role, the regiment relocated

to Darwin in 2005 and began

converting to the Tiger.

After significant delays, both the

161st and 162nd Reconnaissance

Squadrons are now operational

on the Tiger, supported by a

technical support squadron and

a logistics support squadron.

“The 1st Aviation Regiment

is capable of operating

in centralised, dispersed and

independent roles, either in

support of, or commanding a

combined arms force at combat

team or battle group level,” an

army spokesperson explained.

Although based in Darwin, the

Tigers of 1 AVN REGT provide

support to the three regular

army brigades, as they cycle

through the ‘ready’, ‘reset’ or

‘readying’ (training) phase of

their force-generation cycle.

Tiger ARH

Australia selected the Eurocopter

(now Airbus Helicopters) EC665

Tiger in 2001 to fulfil its Armed

Reconnaissance Helicopter

requirement under Project Air 87.

The ARH replaced the Kiowa in

the battlefield reconnaissance

role and a small number
of Vietnam-era Bell UH-1H
Iroquois helicopters, which had
been modified to ‘Bushranger’
(gunship) configuration.
A total of 22 Tigers (A38-
001 to 022) were ordered and
all except the first four were
assembled and flown in Brisbane
by Eurocopter subsidiary
Australian Aerospace (today
Airbus Group Australia Pacific).
The first two were handed
over in a ceremony at Oakey in
December 2004 and the last was
delivered in December 2012.
The introduction to service has
not been smooth, however, and
a range of technical issues and
reliability problems have had to be
overcome, due in a large part to
Above: An Australian Army the relative immaturity of both the
loadmaster from the 6th Aviation
Regiment conducts an engine
start check on an Australian Army
Black Hawk helicopter prior to
conducting training activities over
Newcastle, New South Wales.
CPL Mark Friend/Commonwealth of
Australia