Airbus Says Extra Development Needed for US-made Armed AH-125 Helicopter

Airbus has brought the new helicopters to market in a bid to 'capture advantages of the US export system' and the Foreign Military Sales process, said Scott Tumpak, vice president of military helicopters at Airbus US. Airbus H125M helicopters have inspired the launch of two US manufactured rotorcraft configured for light attack and multirole missions.

European giant Airbus has said that more development' is required on the recently launched AH125 Ares armed light attack helicopter and it will take at least another two years before customer deliveries can begin. The admission comes on the heels of the company launching the rotorcraft, as well as the multirole MH-125 variant, in April with the expectation that producing the helicopters in the US could lead to an influx of Foreign Military Sales (FMS). "When we look at the weapons version (AH-125) there is still development to complete there," said Scott Tumpak, vice president of military helicopters at Airbus US, during a media briefing. "A typical user will want a qualification to include weapons release and things like that, which are outside of a civil certification threshold," he added. "But the items that are not certified today are very small."