TAI/Eurocopter Cougar Mk I

Eurocopter · France · first flew 1977 · helicopter

The AS532 Cougar is a twin-turboshaft medium military transport helicopter, the militarised and later redesignated development of the Aerospatiale Super Puma.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	High-mounted, rotary
E — Engines	2 × turboshaft, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	Stretched Puma-derived fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Four-blade main rotor
Sponson-mounted retractable gear
Stretched Puma-derived fuselage

Look for the four-blade main rotor over a long Puma-derived cabin, the retractable main gear tucked into fuselage sponsons, and a slim tail boom carrying a conventional tailplane and tail rotor.

Specifications

The TAI/Eurocopter Cougar Mk I has a length of 15.53 m (51 ft).
It has a wingspan of 15.6 m (51 ft).
Its maximum speed is 278 km/h (173 mph).
Typical crew: 2 (pilots).

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

The Super Puma family first flew in 1977 as an enlarged, more powerful successor to the SA330 Puma, and the military variants were rebranded AS532 Cougar in 1990. Turbomeca Makila turboshafts drive a four-blade main rotor. Turkey's TAI assembled Cougars under licence for Turkish forces as the Cougar Mk I.

Variants

The Cougar spans short and stretched fuselage versions for troop transport, combat search and rescue and special operations, and shares its lineage with the civil Super Puma and later EC225/H225.

Where you'll see it

Numerous armed forces operate the Cougar for tactical transport and CSAR; the closely related civil Super Puma is a familiar North Sea workhorse in UK offshore operations, giving the family strong British recognition.

Related aircraft

AircraftIQ — the aircraft field guide: 4,893 recognition guides, live overhead identification, works offline.