Airbus Helicopters has kicked off flight testing of the H160M Guepard it is developing on behalf of the French armed forces.

Building on the civil H160 which entered service in late 2021, the military variant’s first prototype made its 50min maiden sortie on 17 July from the airframer’s Marseille airport base.

Two further flights have followed – one on 22 July of 1h 50min and the second two days later lasting around 1h.

Hailing the milestone at an event in Marseille on 24 July, Airbus Helicopters chief executive Bruno Even said it was an “important moment for the programme”.

Around three years of flight testing will follow using a three-strong prototype fleet ahead of first delivery to the French army in 2028.

As well as maintaining progress for its domestic customer, the maiden sortie could also accelerate export discussions, Even says.

“I will not share details but this programme that France has decided to launch is of course attractive to many customers worldwide,” he says. “We already have some discussions.”

Successfully progressing the flight-test programme is a “good way to accelerate some [sales] campaigns”.

While he declines to detail the nature of any talks, “they are more than initial interest”, and the geopolitical context and increased defence spending “gives an opportunity for many customers to think about replacing their existing fleets”.

However, export deliveries will not begin until the end of the decade and France has begun receiving its initial H160Ms. “It would not be realistic to deliver before that,” he says.

Airbus Helicopters will build three prototypes to support the development, with a second example currently in final assembly.

It says the initial helicopter will be used to validate the Guepard’s flight characteristics and will also carry out weapons firing campaigns in 2026.

France has opted to equip the army and air force assets with FN Herstal 12.7mm podded machine guns, with an option to add guided rockets across all three fleets.

Talks between Airbus Helicopters and the French DGA military procurement agency are ongoing and “we are quite confident to have that integrated in the contract in the near future”, says Vincent Chenot, head of the H160M programme.

Guided missiles are also under consideration, an integration effort aided by the incorporation of the airframer’s HForce modular weapons system into the H160M.

Only a short lay-up will be required to install the “heavy weapons carriers” followed by the armaments themselves – beginning with mass- and aerodynamically-representative mock-ups – although Chenot says “everything else is ready on the aircraft – it is a question of hours”.

The second prototype is “quite well advanced” in final assembly and will fly “in the coming months”, he says.

However, the third flight-test asset, dedicated to the combined naval and air force variant, will not arrive before 2027 as “there is additional development on our side”, says Chenot.

This will add “some structural reinforcement” to “cope with the naval landings in harsh conditions” and for the potential future integration of an air-to-air refuelling boom for the air force, plus the Thales AirMaster C active electronically scanned array radar to be used by both services.

While this version will be heavier than that for the army “it is a few kilos more, we are not talking about hundreds”, says Chenot.

France intends to acquire a total of 169 H160Ms, with 30 units so far contracted; Chenot expects an agreement for a second batch of 60 helicopters to be signed in 2028.

Deliveries to the army are due to commence in late 2028, to the navy two years later, and finally to the air force in the second quarter of 2032.

However, the navy already has already built up some experience with the helicopter – albeit the baseline civil H160 – operating six examples as an interim capability for search and rescue missions in a partnership involving Babcock France.

Even says this has been a way to “onboard the customer and make some adjustments” to the helicopter, although so far there has been “nothing major”.

“What we have learned is that everything is almost in line with what we were expecting.”

Chenot says the marinisation of the helicopter has been largely successful albeit with “some minor corrosion” detected.

“We have a few areas where we see some weaknesses,” he says. “However, the feedback has been really excellent in terms of handling qualities and performance.”

Additionally, those H160s have shown high levels of availability, he adds, delivering over 98% of the missions required.

Chenot says the baseline H160M will be certificated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency with the DGA addressing topics “where civil certification is not achievable or realistic”.

Output of the commercial H160 is set to stabilise at around 40 units this year and Even is hopeful that by the end of the decade the airframer will also be building 20 of the M-model variant annually.

Airbus Helicopters will also this year hand over H160s to two other French government customers: to the DGA’s Essais en vol test-flight unit in September, followed by the Gendarmerie Nationale in November.