Eurocopter EC 725 Cougar Long Range Military Helicopter

Eurocopter EC-725 start designed in 1996 when the French Air Force needed a new helicopter designed for CSAR (Combat, Search And Rescue) mission. Initially they chose AS 532A2 Super Puma / Cougar. Later on French Air Force requested for major modification of Super Puma / Cougar that needed for a new variant designated as EC 725 Cougar. It maiden flight was in November 2000.

Eurocopter EC 725 Cougar is a combat proven multirole 11 tonnes military helicopter designed for CSAR, Special Forces operation & medium utility roles. EC 725 Cougar was capable in challenging operation conditions & was designed to fly under most extreme conditions.
French EC 725 Caracal was the first production line of improved Cougar rotary wing family.

EC 725 Cougar missions were Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH), special operations, SAR / CSAR, maritime patrol, naval missions. It's large cabin enables EC 725 Cougar to transport 28 soldiers with 2 crew & carry wide variety of weapons & sensors.
For medical mission (Medevac), it can accommodate 12 stretches casualty carrying installations & 4 attendants. It can do a naval mission including anti-surface warfare (ASuW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), search and rescue (SAR) when equipped with naval mission systems like a sonar, sonobuoy dispenser, SAR cabin configuration with rescue hoist & emergency float.

EC 725 Cougar fitted with in-flight refueling probe, multipurpose engine air intakes & FLIR (Forward-looking-infra-red). It's fuel load is 990 gallons and can fly for more than five hours.

Cougar designed with new spheriflex main rotor head & spheriflex tail rotor head. The S blade rotor system designed for very low vibration level, high performance & easy to maintain.
New main gearbox, Mk2 MGB reinforced by deep nitrogen hardening of the driving input bevel / gear with 8 % more power and can dry run for 30 minutes (gearbox protection).
Full glass cockpit with AMLCD (Active Matrix LCD) with 4 screens 6" x 8", 2 crew 4" x 5" displays.
The air-frame was from mixed composite metallic with extensive use of composite material to reduced radar signature (low radar signature.
Armouring cockpit doors & armouring crew seat was for crew protection.

For avionics, it was equipped with highly advanced 4-axis autopilot with full envelops protection. It can be fixed with surveillance & targeting turrets & carry most modern avionics & navigation equipments.

General Characteristic:

Crew - 2 pilots
Capactiy - 28 troops
Length - 19.5 m
Rotor diameter - 16.2 m
Height - 4.6 m
Empty weight - 5,330 kg
Loaded weight - 11,200 kg
Power plant - 2 x Turbomeca Makila 1A4 turboshafts engines with 1,800 kw each engine

Performance

Maximum speed - 324 km/hr
Cruise speed - 285 km/hr
Maximum range - 857 km
Service ceiling - 6,095 m
Rate of climb - 3.6 m/s

Armaments

It can be fitted with:

- 2 x 68 mm Thales Brand or Forge Zeebrugge side mounted rocket launchers (19 rockets for each
   launcher)
- 2 x 20 mm pod mounted GIAT cannons with 180 rounds
- Dassault Electronique EWR-99 FLUIT RWR (radar warning receiver) for electronic protection suite
- Alkan ELIPS multipurpose chaff & flare dispenser (countermeasure)

User Countries

French EC 725 Caracal was the first EC 725 in operation. Brazil ordered 50 EC 725 Cougar. Mexico, Malaysia (12 units), Indonesia (6 units), Kazakhstan (20 units) & Thailand (CSAR configuration) (4 units) was the others user.