Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma - Wikipedia

Origins

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; a more robust fuselage structure and a new crashworthy undercarriage were adopted, the rotor blades are able to withstand some battle damage, and various other key mechanical systems were modified.[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: a short-fuselage version with similar capacity to the SA 330 while providing superior performance under "hot and high" conditions, and a stretched version which allowed more 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 found that the AS 332 Super Puma had a higher cruise speed and more range than the SA 330 Puma, in part due to the Makila engine providing greater power output, and also a 17% reduction in fuel consumption. The Super Puma was also far more stable in flight, and was less reliant on automated corrective systems.[7] The development of 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

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 introduction of features including lengthened rotor blades, more powerful engines and gearboxes, increases in takeoff weight, and modernised avionics.[11] Overseas manufacturing was established; Indonesian Aerospace (IPTN) 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 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] 565 Super Pumas (including military-orientated Cougars) had been delivered or were on order at this time.[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 H215, would be transferred to a new purpose-built final-assembly facility in Brasov, Romania[16] to cut production time and cost by simplifying production to a single baseline configuration that would then be customised to meet the needs of civilian and military customers.[17]