Airbus and OCCAR Deliver Final Tiger HAD Upgrade to French Army

OCCAR, December 18, 2025 - Marignane, France – OCCAR, working together with Airbus Helicopters, has successfully delivered the HAD-F 2045, 30th HAD Retrofit to France, marking a major milestone in the modernization of the French Army Aviation’s combat helicopter fleet.

This achievement is part of an extensive retrofit programmed Upgrade, jointly pursued by France and Spain.

Tiger HAD

The Tiger HAD (Hélicoptère d’Appui Destruction) program represents the French Army Aviation’s effort to modernize its Tiger attack helicopter fleet to meet evolving operational requirements. Launched in 2017, the HAD-F upgrade focused on enhancing firepower, protection and interoperability, incorporating improved avionics, upgraded communications, and the integration of advanced weapons such as the AGM-114 Hellfire missile. The program was managed through OCCAR in cooperation with Airbus Helicopters, ensuring common standards and sustained support for the upgraded fleet.

Beyond weapons integration, the Tiger HAD upgrade also addressed operational resilience and long-term serviceability. Improvements included enhanced self-protection systems, mission systems refinements and updates to support network-centric operations alongside allied forces. With the delivery of the 30th and final upgraded aircraft, the Tiger HAD program formally concluded, providing the French Army Aviation with a standardized and fully modernized Tiger fleet intended to remain operational well into the next decade.

This retrofit from the HAP to the HAD version involves performing over 100 airframe modifications and installing over 1500 new parts and 250 electrical cables.

Compared with the previous HAP version, the HAD Tiger benefits from an increased maximum take-off weight (MTOW), and is equipped with two new enhanced MTR 390 E engines and with a new STRIX roof mounted sight system complete with a laser designator that allows the Hellfire II air-to-ground missile to be fired.