Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma
The Airbus Helicopters H215 (formerly Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma) is a four-bladed, twin-engined, medium-sized, utility helicopter developed and initially produced by French aerospace company Aérospatiale. It has been subsequently manufactured by the successor companies Eurocopter and Airbus Helicopters. The Super Puma is a re-engined and more voluminous version of the original Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma.
Development of the Super Puma was carried out during the 1970s, based on the successful SA 330 Puma. While retaining a similar layout, the fuselage was redesigned to increase its damage tolerance and crashworthiness, while composite materials were also more extensively used. Furthermore, a pair of more powerful Turbomeca Makila turboshaft engines was also adopted, along with a more streamlined nose, amongst other changes. Two distinct fuselage lengths, a shortened and stretched form, were developed from the onset. On 5 September 1977, the SA 331 preproduction prototype performed its maiden flight; the first true Super Puma made its first flight roughly one year later. By 1980, the Super Puma had succeeded the SA 330 Puma as Aérospatiale's principal utility helicopter.
The Super Puma quickly proved itself to be a commercial success for both military and civil customers. The French Army were a keen early customer, using the type in its new rapid response task force, the Force d'Action Rapide, and routinely dispatching Super Pumas to support France's overseas engagements in both Africa and the Middle East. Indonesia also became a prominent nation for the Super Puma, with the state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia securing a license to produce it locally. In the civilian sector, it has been heavily used to support offshore oil rigs and aerial firefighting operations. Since 1990, Super Pumas in military service have been marketed under the AS532 Cougar designation. In civilian service, a next generation successor to the AS 332 was introduced in 2004, the further-enlarged Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma.
Development[edit]
Origins[edit]
During 1974, Aérospatiale commenced development of a new medium transport helicopter based on its successful SA 330 Puma. The project's existence was publicly announced at the 1975 Paris Air Show. While the new design retained a similar general layout to the preceding AS 330, it was powered by a pair of Turbomeca Makila turboshaft engines, which had recently been developed and were more powerful than the preceding Turbomeca Turmo. The rotorcraft's four-bladed main rotor was redesigned to make use of composite materials. The design team paid substantial attention to increasing the new model's damage resistance; thus, a more robust fuselage structure was adopted along with a new crashworthy undercarriage, while the rotor blades are also able to withstand some battle damage, along with various other key mechanical systems across the rotorcraft.[2]
External features that distinguish the new helicopter from the SA 330 include a ventral fin underneath the tail boom and a more streamlined nose.[3] From the project's onset, it had been planned for the new rotorcraft to be available in two fuselage lengths, consisting of a short fuselage version that had similar capacity to the SA 330, while providing superior performance under "hot and high" conditions, and a stretched version which allowed for greater quantities of internal cargo or passengers to be carried in circumstances where overall weight was deemed to be less critical.[4]
On 5 September 1977, a preproduction prototype, the SA 331, modified from a SA 330 airframe by the addition of Makila engines and a new gearbox, performed its maiden flight.[5] The first prototype of the full Super Puma made its first flight on 13 September 1978, and was quickly followed by a further five prototypes.[6] Flight testing revealed that, in comparison with the SA 330 Puma, the AS 332 Super Puma possessed a higher cruise speed and more range, in part due to the Makila engine providing a greater power output along with a 17% reduction in fuel consumption per mile. The Super Puma also demonstrated its far superior flight stabilisation tendencies and was less reliant on automated corrective systems.[7] The development of both military and civilian variants was carried out in parallel, including at the certification stage.[8] During 1981, the first civil Super Puma was delivered.[9]
Production and improvements[edit]
By 1980, the AS 332 Super Puma had replaced the preceding SA 330 Puma as Aérospatiale's principal utility helicopter.[10] It quickly proved to be highly popular amongst its customers; between July 1981 and April 1987, on average, three helicopters per month were being built for operators from both the military and civilian sectors.[11] The success of the AS 332 Super Puma led to the pursuit of additional development programs that produced further advanced models. These included the arrival of features such as lengthened rotor blades, more powerful engines and gearboxes, increases in takeoff weight, and modernised avionics.[11] Furthermore, overseas manufacturing was also established; Indonesian Aerospace (IPTN) has produced both the SA 330 and AS 332 under license from Aerospatiale; IPTN-build rotorcraft were produced for both domestic and some overseas customers.[12]
A wide variety of specialised Super Puma variants followed the basic utility transport model into operation, including dedicated search-and-rescue (SAR) and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) versions. Since 1990, military-orientated Super Pumas have been marketed under the AS532 Cougar name. As a fallback option to the NHIndustries NH90 programme, a Mark III Super Puma was also considered for development at one stage.[11] By 2005, various models of Super Puma had been operated by numerous customers across 38 nations for a wide variety of purposes.[12] In total, 565 Super Pumas (including military-orientated Cougars) had been delivered or were on order at this point as well.[13]
During February 2012, Eurocopter announced that it was offering a lower-cost basic Super Puma configuration that would be more competitive with rivals such as the Russian-built Mil Mi-17.[14] Starlite Aviation became the launch customer for this new variant, designated AS 332 C1e.[15] In November 2015, Airbus Helicopters announced that manufacturing activity of the AS 332 Super Puma, which was redesignated as the H215 at that point, would be transferred to a new purpose-built final-assembly facility in Brasov, Romania.[16] This move is aimed to cut production time and cost by simplifying production to a single baseline configuration that would then be customised to meet the needs of both civilian and military customers.[17]
Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1993–94[110]
General characteristics
Performance
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists