Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Saphir

Saphir-M

IOC: 2004
Production: 500

Origin
France

Contractor/s
MBDA

Applications
NH90 NFH
NH90 TTH
Tiger ARH
Tiger HAD
Tiger HAP
Tiger UHT

Family Members
Saphir
Saphir 400

Description: The Saphir-M is a derivative of the proven Saphir chaff and flare dispensing system. Saphir-M has been developed to protect highly valuable helicopters such as the NH-90 and the Tiger. It is well suited to counter threats posed by radar and missiles, specially short-range should-fired missiles such as American Stringer and Russian/Soviet Igla.

The Saphir-M features high decoy capacity, interoperability with other decoys, fully programmable, stand-alone or integrated with and EW system, and optimized for helicopter use. The system consists of cartridges dispenser modules (up to 10), the sequencing supply and safety unit, the cockpit control unit, the magazines and different types of ammunition ranging from 18 per magazine to 72 per magazine. Saphir-M features manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic release.

On September 4, 2004, MBDA and Eurocopter signed an initial production contract to equip all versions of the Tiger assault and NH90 multirole helicopters with Saphir-M decoy self-protection system. The contract represents the supply of 500 systems over the next 15 years.

The Armies, Navies and Air Forces of Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal operating the NH90 and/or Tiger helicopters will be the first to receive the Saphir-M decoy countermeasures system. The list should be extended in the near future with new NH90 and Tiger customers.

Operators

see operators map

Australia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Italy

Netherlands

Portugal

Notes
(*) lead contractor
IOC: Initial Operating Capability
FOC: Full Operating Capability
CEP: Circular Error Probable
Comm: Commissioning Date
Meters (m) Kilometers (km) Nautic Miles (nm) Inch (in) Yard (yd) Foot (ft) Millimeter (mm)
Pound (lb) Kilogram (kg) kN (KiloNewton) Ton (t)
Meters per Second (mps) Kilometers per Hour (kph) Knot (kt) Miles per Hour (mph)
Liter (l) Galon (gl)
Year (yr) Minutes (min) Second (sec)
Shaft-Horse-Power (shp)

Last Updated: Sunday, March 07, 2010

Leave Feedback >>