Daher underscores its relationship with France’s ALAT

The Daher Aircraft division participated in this month’s 70^th-anniversary celebration of France’s Army Light Aviation (ALAT), highlighting the military service’s utilisation of TBM turboprop-powered aircraft in its transportation, liaison and support missions.

The milestone was marked by a symposium and flyby last week on the Army base of the 5th Combat Helicopter Regiment (RHC) in Pau, southwestern France. This event brought together representatives of France’s armed forces, government officials, as well as families of ALAT personnel and was overseen by the French Army Chief of Staff, General Pierre Schill. During the celebration, Daher highlighted the company’s maintenance, engineering, logistics and support services for military operators, as well as exhibiting its Kodiak 100 utility aircraft.

TBM 700s are flown by the ALAT, with eight of them based at Rennes-Saint-Jacques Airport and operated by the Army’s Aircraft Detachment.

“Daher was honoured to participate in the ALAT’s 70th anniversary because of the close ties we have with the French Army Aviation – which is one of the most active users of our TBM aeroplanes,” said Nicolas Chabbert, CEO of Daher Aircraft. “The celebration also was an opportunity to reiterate our commitment to ensuring the maintenance of the ALAT’s TBM fleet in operational conditions for flight safety and aircraft availability, as well as our capability to meet its future operational needs.”

The TBM 700 was selected by the ALAT in the early 1990s to support the French Army’s transport missions. TBM 700As – the cornerstone version of the TBM aircraft family – were ordered in 1992, with deliveries occurring between February 1995 and year-end 1999. It was supplemented in 2000 by TBM 700B versions with a wide door.

This fleet is maintained by Daher under a full operational support contract, renewed for the fourth time in 2021 for seven years.

In 2010, the French Government’s DGA defence procurement agency selected Daher to carry out the avionics renovation of all TBM 700s operated by the French armed forces – including those in service with the ALAT. This modernisation, which was completed in June 2014, included the installation of the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit avionics suite with a digital autopilot, accompanied by upgrades to meet civil and European airworthiness certification standards.

The upgrades also involved:

   Installation of an APIBOX flight data recording and management system from the iAero company;

   Replacement of the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) with a more compact Artex ME406 version;

   Replacement of the weather radar with a more recent version and the integration of a Stormscope storm detection device; and

   Implementation of additional cabin enhancements for passengers.

The ALAT was officially formed in November 1954 as the successor to France’s light artillery observation aviation. At its creation, the MS 500 “Criquet” – an aircraft from Morane-Saulnier, a predecessor to Daher Aircraft – made up the military service’s fleet, with 40 aircraft in operation. These short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft provided observation, artillery targeting, ground troop support and medical evacuation missions, and their STOL characteristics can be considered as a forerunner to Daher’s Kodiak utility aircraft family.