Flying for the first time in 1978, the Super Puma,
as the name sugests, is a stretched and re-engined outgrowth of
the SA 330 Puma. The original AS 332B military aircraft featured
twin 1700shp Turbomeca Makila turboshafts, new avionics and composite
rotor blades. The AS 332M model introduced the new stretched fuselage
in1980. The type later received uprated engines. In 1990 the line
of military Super Pumas were renamed AS 532 Cougar Mk 1. Various
suffixes are used to defferentiate different vesrions- U for unarmed,
A for armed, C for the short fuselage and L for the strectched model.
The AS 532MC is a SAR/Surveilance model while the AS 532SC is and
ASW/Maritime patrol variant. The current production model is the
Cougar Mk 2.