As a part of a ceremonial handover, RUAG returned the final of a complete of 9 modernized Cougars to the Swiss Air Drive’s helicopter fleet. The sequence modernization program obtained approval from the Federal Council in 2018 on the event of the Military Dispatch and began in early 2019 with the conversion of the primary Cougar. In February 2017, as a part of the 2018 Military Dispatch, the Federal Council commissioned the sequence challenge and thus the worth retention of the Swiss Air Drive’s fleet of Cougars. After the profitable worth retention program to modernize the TH89 Tremendous Puma to turn into the TH06, the TH98 Cougar was in flip modernized to make it the TH18.
This modernization program lasted round three years and concluded in line with plan with the handover of the final of the remaining eight modernized TH18 Cougars. To increase the helpful lifetime of the helicopter, which was already 20 years outdated, and guarantee its availability till at the least 2035, RUAG modernized the fleet of TH98 Cougars. The objective of the worth retention was to harmonize the Tremendous Puma and Cougar transport helicopters. This can permit extra uniform and simplified operational procedures and coaching. As a future-oriented expertise companion of the Swiss Armed Forces, RUAG makes a major contribution to sovereign safety for Switzerland.
Commercial
The Eurocopter AS532 Cougar (now Airbus Helicopters H215M) is a twin-engine, medium-weight, multipurpose helicopter developed by France. The AS532 is a improvement and improve of the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma in its militarized kind. The AS332 Tremendous Puma, designed as a progress model to exchange the SA 330 Puma, first flew in September 1977. It was fitted with two 1,330 kW Turbomeca Makila 1A1 turboshaft engines, composite rotor blades, improved touchdown gear and a modified tailfin. In 1990 all army Tremendous Puma designations had been modified from “AS 332” to “AS 532 Cougar” to differentiate between the civil and army variants of the helicopter.
The Swiss Air Drive ordered its first AS332 Tremendous Pumas in 1986 earlier than shopping for a complete of 12 Cougars in 1998. A complete of 9 Cougar helicopters and 15 Tremendous Pumas stay in service. The overhaul will contain disassembling the plane to exchange or restore related components which are broken. Work underneath the settlement carried out the corporate’s services in Emmen. The Swiss Air Drive presently operates ten Cougar helicopters and 15 different transport helicopters, that are used to move folks and supplies, help catastrophe aid, search and rescue missions at residence and overseas.
