On 17 January 2008, Eurocopter was awarded the contract to retrofit 24 Cougar FAR helicopters belonging to the French army aviation corps (ALAT), and three Cougars belonging to the French air force. This contract has a dual objective: to maintain the operational capability of these 27 aircraft until 2030, and to bring them into conformity with the regulatory requirements pertaining to general air traffic. Eurocopter will integrate mission systems and retrofit the radiocommunication equipment and avionics (by integrating the same avionics installed on the EC725). The possibility of carrying out the P2(1) scheduled inspections during the retrofit layup is also provided for in the contract. By combining the disassembly work for these two operations, Eurocopter is offering to implement efficient logistics synergies, which will significantly reduce the aircraft downtime. For its part, the French government has made commitments regarding the availability of the aircraft – an essential contribution to the planning that will considerably optimise the work.

(1) Intermediate maintenance inspections.