The French Air Force is set to significantly enhance its SAR and CSAR capabilities with the completion of in-flight refueling certification for its EC725 Caracals.
Speaking to reporters at Cazaux airbase in May, director of operations Maj Guillaume Vernon confirmed the EC725 Caracal helicopter squadron EH 1/67 was aiming to achieve high altitude refueling (HR) certification for night flight by the end of 2013.
‘HR is a brand new capability we are trying to build, and as of today we are just day HR capable. Hopefully within the year we will be night HR capable. This will definitely bring us further into enemy territory,’ Vernon said.
The Eurocopter EC725 Caracal was designed to fly 250 nautical miles, have 20 minutes of hover time, and return to base. With full HR capability the squadrons range could be doubled, or even tripled.
‘We are just waiting on certification to fly behind a C-130 at night. A far as the mission itself, flying behind a [C-130] tanker is pretty tricky; the rotor system is just a meter behind the probe, and the tail wing of the craft is as big as the helicopter,’ Vernon continued.
Part of Cazaux air force base, helicopter squadron EH 1/67 is responsible for public SAR operations over the southwest of France, as well as being a deployable combat unit for CSAR operations.
‘The motto of our chain of command is fight and rescue, that’s what we do. We save lives on a daily basis, we rescue people. But we don’t have red crosses on the side of our helicopters, we have dual-mounted crew-served machine guns and we intend to use them if need be, so we also fight,’ Vernon emphasised.
‘We do crisis time tactical missions, and personnel recovery CSAR. The idea behind personnel recovery is to deny the ability for any bad guy to use one of our isolated personnel against our will.’
The squadron has certified 80% of its Caracal pilots for day HR, and is the only European unit capable of refueling two in-flight helicopters simultaneously.
French forces first deployed the Caracal in a combat capacity in Afghanistan, and subsequently during NATO-led operations for the Libyan military campaign and Mali.
‘Just a few months after the helicopter was declared to be operationally available we were deployed to Lebanon. We got this bird in 2006 and by June we were deployed to Lebanon. Young pilots were deployed to Afghanistan with just 100 hours of flight because this helicopter is very easy to learn,’ Vernon added.
While deployed in these operational theatres, the EC725 performed missions ranging from tactical transport and special operations to CSAR and maritime patrol.
‘CSAR is dedicated to the ability to go and pick up trained personnel on the ground. People who know how to talk to us, and know the procedures to be picked up. We flew 3000+ flight hours with the Caracal in Afghanistan, with over 200 casevac missions and 250 individuals brought back safely from 2006 to March 2012,’ said Vernon.
Specifically designed to cope with adverse weather conditions, the EC725 avionics suite includes an advanced four-axis autopilot with full flight envelope protection.
‘The system allows us to fly in really bad weather conditions, especially at night. We have a good situational awareness building system for all the crew within the helicopter, and thanks to the automatic hovering system, the threat posed by brown-outs no longer prevents the successful completion of search and rescue missions,’ he said.
France have ordered 19 EC 725 Caracals for the French Air Force and the French Army Aviation (ALAT). Other customers include Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, bringing the total number of EC725s sold to 106 as of June 2013.