The Tiger comes in three configurations - combat support, anti-tank and support (does everything). As well as the sight on the mast, there is also a thermal imager, a helmet-mounted sight display (both crew), a TV camera, laser range finder, missile localiser and night-vision goggles. (Everything in the cockpit is compatible with these.) Both crews have access to all the sensors.
Besides its primary anti-tank missile armaments, the Tiger's armaments include anti-tank missiles, HOT or TRIGAT, unguided rockets, 12.7mm gun pod, Stinger missiles, Mistral air-to-air missiles, and a 30mm turret-mounted gun (capacity 450 rounds). Some of the weapon attachments on the stub wings are steerable. All weapons are passive.
Systems performance, exceedances, malfunctions and other factors are recorded and the maintenance crew has access to these. The aircraft, has been designed to be operated in the field, by unsophisticated maintenance personnel. Maintenance tests have been carried out to ensure that tasks are done within a certain time. All aspects of a mission are placed onto a cassette before the flight: this is then fed into the aircraft's computers, which programme the systems accordingly. The crew can modify this information using the LCD scratch pad. The aircraft is protected against electro-magnetic interference in excess of anything that a battleship can produce, so the aircraft can be safely deployed off shore. The aircraft is well below limits for ground resonance to occur. For vortex ring to develop, entry conditions have to be exact. There is lots of control power available to recover.
Source: Flight International
