Country of origin:

New Zealand

Description:

General-purpose light helicopter

Power Plant:

One 179 kw (240 hp) DeltaHawk four-cylinder diesel, supercharged, turbocharged and intercooled engine

Specifications:

History:

In the late 1990s five American Sportscopter light helicopters were imported to New Zealand, one, a Model 496 (ZK-HIY) later in 1999 being rebuilt to U600 specifications, and four Model 600s.  A company was set up to develop and market these machines in this region.  Later a company known as TGR Helicorp (NZ) Ltd was set up to manufacture and sell its own design, which was basically a development of the Sportscopter to meet the requirements of the New Zealand market.  To this end it was designed to meet FAR 27 rules.

This new machine, initially known as the “TGR”, was larger than the older Sportcopter and had little in the way of commonality with that machine.  A facility was set up at Greenmount in Auckland to produce the type, and a mock-up of a civil variant was built to enable fit-out and further design work.  A prototype was then said to have been built known as the Bandit, this being a three-seat commercial helicopter.  It used a specialist drive train developed for a military UCAV helicopter, known as the Snark, also built by the Company.  The fuselage was built of Kevlar and it had a full fenestron tail rotor system with seven blades.  The cockpit was described as fly-by-wire and the Company announced it was building two variants, the Bandit for civil operations, and the Wolverine, a military variant, with a 900 km (559 miles) range with carbon fibre rotor blades.

The Wolverine X4 was a light attack helicopter, was mainly aimed at the military market and was described as the world’s first diesel-powered helicopter, being aimed at the flight training, battlefield reconnaissance, offensive sorties against land and naval targets, coastal patrol, border patrol, anti-terrorism patrol etc roles.  The prototype was built to meet CAR 146 and 148 Certificates.

In October 2005 the Snark was described as an ”un-manned combat aerial vehicle of immense capability that demonstrated just how far the breed has come in such a short period of time.  Constructed mainly of carbon fibre and Kevlar, the Snark is light and fast (280 km/h – 451 mph), quiet (special rotor blades make it extremely quiet), virtually invisible to radar or infrared detection (it recycles its exhaust gases and emits little heat) and can carry a payload of 680 kg (1,499 lb), offering the ability to pack both massive firepower (enough to sink a ship) and surveillance equipment (such as high resolution infrared cameras with a magnification of 7500).  The Snark is the first UAV that runs on diesel fuel, which means it can be easily integrated into any military force – current UAVs require their own special fuel supply to be transported with them whereas the entire US Army plans to run on a single one fuel – diesel.  Most importantly, the Snark can stay airborne for 24 hours at a time offering an unprecedented loiter time for a machine of this capability”.

In 2009 the program head, Trevor Rogers, stated the program was far from becoming history and development work was planned to resume at some time in the future, stating the Snark diesel-powered, low observable, long endurance helicopter remained fully achievable but all future work would occur in a new host nation, not New Zealand.

During Court proceedings relating to the helicopter, Justice Woodhouse in the New Zealand Supreme Court stated that he accepted that by late 2007 TGR was a ‘world leader’ in its field, and that there was a ‘substantial body of evidence’ which showed that the prototypes were of high quality and that there were good prospects for their sale.

A variant of the Snark design was to be known as the Alpine Wasp, a DeltaHawk diesel engine providing 179 kw (240 hp) to be installed, and was to be used as an air ambulance to rescue climbers on mountains such as Mount Everest.  Testing of this variant when completed was to take place at 3,754 m (12,316 ft) on Mount Cook.   The Snark technology claimed a number of firsts, including autonomous flight, take-off and landing mission capability, a fully armed/defence UAV machine, a diesel-powered helicopter. It would also have been unique for its time in having exhaust emissions mixed with cold air to produce a low heat signature discharge, which it is said would have made it hard to hit with a heat seeking missile.  One publication described it as an “unmanned stealth helicopter”.

The aircraft could be diverted by the base station operator to uplift two injured soldiers on stretchers on its undercarriage and then return to its planned computer-controlled mission or to base.  It would have had two infrared cameras designed and built by TGR with a formidable capability, ie the aircraft could designate a target, transmit pictures by satellite to its ground station or defend itself against attack from long range, front or rear, and had a series of operational options, ranges and equipment specifically designed for its missions.  The Snark could be quickly dismantled and loaded into its hangar, or re-assembled and be flight ready in four hours, the Company providing its own mobile hangar as a package.

Eventually the Company went into liquidation in 2008, and closed its doors with only mockups being completed, and no flightworthy aircraft being completed.  Subsequently legal proceedings took place in New Zealand Courts relating to information being supplied to investors and the winding up of the Company and nothing further has been gleaned about the future of this promising project.