- "What you are about to see in operation is Europe’s answer to the electronic battlefield. The first working prototype of the Tiger helicopter. Uniquely maneuverable, the Tiger not only uses stealth technology, it is the only helicopter to be hardened against all forms of electronic interference, radio jamming and electro-magnetic radiation."
- ― NATO speaker at the La Fayette Frigate
The Eurocopter Tiger is a four-bladed, twin-engined attack helicopter manufactured by Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters). Designed to resist various forms of electronic warfare, it was undergoing combat trials in the 1990s as it readied for implementation with European defense forces.[2]
The Tiger is prominently featured in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye and its accompanying novelization by John Gardner. It was re-named the "Pirate" for the 1997 video game GoldenEye 007. The aircraft was replaced by two separate fictional helicopters (Reg: 91548 and the Prototype) in the 2010 re-imagining of GoldenEye 007.
Real-life overview[]
The Tiger helicopter data on a MI6 computer.
Development of the real-life Tiger started during the Cold War, and it was initially intended as an anti-tank helicopter platform to be used against a Soviet ground invasion of Western Europe. During its prolonged development period the Soviet Union collapsed, but France and Germany chose to proceed with the Tiger, developing it instead as a multi-role attack helicopter.
The first prototype of the Tiger flew in April 1991, and when Eurocopter was formed in 1992 - through the merger of MBB and Aérospatiale - the Tiger was considered one of the consortium's flagship vehicles. The helicopter project was heavily marketed, with Eurocopter allowing it to appear in the movie GoldenEye to increase the project's profile. The Tiger first entered service in 2003 and achieved operational readiness in 2008.
The Tiger is characterized by its high maneuverability through the rigid rotor system that allows the helicopter to loop and perform negative G maneuvers. The helicopter's radar target area has been reduced by the helicopter's fuselage being built with 80% carbon fiber reinforced plastic and Kevlar (so-called composite materials) and by the fuselage being made narrow as the driver (front) and gunner (rear) sit in tandem ("one after the other"). Later versions of the HAD (Block 2) have been adapted to operate in a marine environment and operate from ships.
As portrayed in the film, the Eurocopter Tiger's hull is indeed proofed against electromagnetic pulse weaponry, as well as direct hits from lightning strikes. This has been achieved via an embedded copper/bronze grid and copper bonding foil into its structure.[3][4]
History[]
GoldenEye (1995)[]
The Tiger helicopter aboard La Fayette
The Tiger helicopter first appears when James Bond is shadowing Xenia Onatopp and Admiral Chuck Farrel at the Monaco docks. After Xenia and Adm. Farrel leave to the Janus Syndicate-owned Manticore Yatch, Bond ends up spotting the Tiger Helicopter on deck of the French frigate La Fayette,
The next morning, NATO representatives begin to demonstrate the Tiger helicopter, touting it as a high-tech stealth aircraft for the advanced technological battlefield of the 21st century. When the demonstration of the Tiger is about to start, Xenia and an imposter Chuck Farrel steal the identities of the original test pilots - François Brouse and Bernard Jaubert - to get to the controls of the Tiger helicopter. Bond attempts to thwart the theft, but was restrained by French authorities as the stolen Tiger left the scene.
Tiger helicopter deflecting the electromagnetic effects of the GoldenEye EMP.
It is then used by Onatopp and General Ourumov for their infiltration of Severnaya Satellite Control Center, where they murder the technical staff and steal the keys to the Soviet-era orbital weapon system known as GoldenEye. They set Petya - one of the two GoldenEye satellites - to detonate over Severnaya and flee the scene while Russian MiG-29 fighters take off. The GoldenEye detonates and the EMP blast decimates the Satellite Control Center and the MiGs, with the Tiger Helicopter remaining unaffected by its effects. MI6 - who were observing the area - regain visual thanks to another spy satellite, only to see the site of destruction and the Tiger gone once more. With Bond deducing that Janus wanted the Tiger for its electricity/EMP-proofed properties to steal the GoldenEye, M assigns him to track down the Tiger and the GoldenEye before either could be used again.
In his face-to-face meeting with Janus, 007 discovered the Tiger helicopter at a statue park in St. Petersburg where Janus awaited his arrival. Janus himself, revealed to be Bond's former ally Alec Trevelyan then captured Bond and strapped both him and Severnaya survivor Natalya Simonova in the Tiger, intending to destroy it along with themselves. The Tiger launched a pair of anti-aircraft missiles at itself, and Bond hit the eject button just as the missiles found their target, destroying the Tiger.
GoldenEye 007 (1997)[]
The Eurocopter Tiger is renamed the "Pirate", a stealth helicopter of similar design that is targeted for theft by Janus while undergoing testing aboard the FS La Fayette. To steal it, a team of Janus commandos overtake the vessel and take the crew hostage, intending to blow up the vessel as they flee with their prize. MI6 says that Paris is cooperating with London in order to allow the Pirate to be stolen in the hopes of getting a lead on Janus, but Bond has been sent to save the frigate by defusing the bombs and rescuing the hostages. Bond defuses two bombs, one in the engine room and the other on the bridge, and frees the sailors. He then plants a tracking bug on the helicopter. A later mission says that MI6 lost track of the Pirate somewhere in Russia; their belief being Janus operatives discovered the craft was bugged and neutralized it. The helicopter as in the film is finally found in the statue park in St. Petersburg, where Bond rescues Natalya before it is destroyed by Janus. Bond eventually recovers the flight recorder from Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin at the Archives, proving the traitorous General Ourumov's involvement with Janus.
Behind the Scenes[]
Modeler Nigel Blake with Severnaya miniatures during production of GoldenEye.
On the 1999 Special Edition DVD of GoldenEye, the director's commentary notes the aircraft's appearances in the film's Monte Carlo scenes were of a prototype Tiger provided by the French Navy along with its test platform, the FS La Fayette.[5] Its other appearances throughout the rest of the film were scale miniatures constructed by Derek Meddings' model unit at Leavesden studios in England.[6] Unexpectedly, the night before shooting it snowed heavily, excessively covering the set and negatively affecting the model helicopter's airworthiness.[7]
In GoldenEye 007 the Tiger's spiritual counterpart, the "Pirate" strongly resembles the American-built AH-64 Apache gunship.
Gallery[]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 McGowen, Stanley S. (2005). Helicopters: An Illustrated History of their Impact. Santa Barbara, California, p. 235.
- ↑ Flightglobal.Com – Eurocopter Tiger.
- ↑ Aviation Week & Space Technology. (Part 134, Number 1526) (1991). McGraw-Hill. Page 28.
- ↑ Jane, Frederick Thomas (2005). Jane's All the World's Aircraft. Jane's Information Group, 267.
- ↑ Campbell Director's Commentary soundtrack Golden Eye Special Edition DVD 2002. IMDb (17 November 1995).
- ↑ Multiple authors. (1996). James Bond 007: The Ultimate Dossier (CD-ROM). Eidos Interactive. ISBN 0-7928-3274-4.
- ↑ Nigel Blake. (2013). GOLDENEYE miniature effects (YouTube). PierceFilm.
