Germany to replace Tiger attack helo with H145M

Having declined to join its international partners in the Mk III upgrade, Germany will now retire its Tigers with no dedicated attack helicopter replacement. Instead, it will employ the H145M in the light attack helicopter role. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Germany plans to retire its Airbus Helicopters Tiger attack fleet in favour of acquiring more Airbus Helicopters H145M utility rotorcraft that it can arm with long-range air-to-surface missiles.

Reuters cited a Bundeswehr spokesperson as confirming the plan that had been reported in the German national media. The Bundeswehr had not responded to a Janes request for comment at the time of publication.

As noted by Janes World Armies, Germany has 66 Tigers in its inventory, including a number in storage. A portion of these were scheduled for upgrade as part of the Tiger Mk III programme with France and Spain. However, in 2022, Germany declined to join its European partners in the project, leading to speculation that it was not committed to maintaining its fleet in the longer term.

This speculation was fuelled in November 2021, when Boeing told Janes that it had responded to a request for information (RFI) from Berlin on its AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopter. As per this RFI, it was assumed that Germany would maintain its dedicated attack helicopter capability, if not the Tiger helicopter type.