Today’s discussions: tomorrow’s revolutions

In October, Airbus Helicopters hosted its first M Days event. The two-day symposium of conferences, demonstrations and displays allowed around 80 military operators from 20 countries to gather and discuss the rotorcraft of today, tomorrow and beyond. VP, Head of Market Operations at Airbus Helicopters, William Sampson, explains why Airbus Helicopters is perfectly placed to lead such an initiative.

Why was this the right time for Airbus to host M Days?

William Sampson: We have a responsibility, as a world-leading rotary and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) manufacturer. We must be preparing for security challenges, not just for today and tomorrow but for events in the 2040s and beyond. Many questions are currently being asked about the future of the industry and Airbus is one of the few entities that can assemble a ‘brain trust’ of people who are asking these kinds of questions to assess: are we all asking the same questions? Are we asking the right questions? What are the different views? We wanted to assemble the right expertise to simply consider if the conventional helicopter, as we know and love it today, is going to be what we need tomorrow? If it’s not, what will we need? It’s not just listening to the end customers and how they feel about our products, but trying to actually shape the future of the rotary and UAS, defence and security world. Even considering competitors, they don’t have the same range of products nor customers globally, which enables this diversity of thinking, and consideration of responses to the threats being faced. It’s important to face these challenges collectively. What was most appreciated by participants was that this was an opportunity to exchange.

Are operators facing similar challenges?

W.S.: There were some common themes which came up about customer operations, availability, survivability, looking ahead to dispersed operations. So, there was a certain amount of commonality, in that these are problems which everyone in the entire industry faces. The military is hard pressed, government security and operators are hard pressed to do a lot of critical life-saving missions within a constrained budgetary and supply chain environment. There’s a certain amount of shared consideration when looking ahead to our future conflicts about using UAS and uncrewed teaming. We know it will be part of the answer, but we’re all trying to work out the best answer and the best way to integrate that into the concept of operations and thereby develop the future products. So that’s a very accelerated cycle and certainly a generational change within the helicopter industry.

What were the main takeaways?

W.S.: The notion of multi-mission capability and modularity of approach, particularly in the context of hybrid warfare, is something which really stood out from the M Days. The discussions showed that there are certain similar challenges which we’re facing, both contemporary and future, but it would be a mistake to conclude from that, that there’s a one-size-fits-all answer. When considering the design of the next generation of military rotorcraft, there are a number of contending designs that are under consideration, including high-speed tilt rotor options. If we’re going to be facing conflict in theatres where a kind of hybrid warfare in an increasingly uncertain world could be playing out — we’re talking about protracted events, which go on over years, where the warfare is on an operator’s home soil — while speed is essentially important, it’s not the priority because what you need is to have resilience of your industry in order to be able to carry out multiple missions, multiple tasks in peacetime and in wartime. From fixing the power supplies which the enemy has destroyed, to rescuing people where some insurgents have blown the dam, and doing disaster relief operations, versatility is what is most important.