RIDLEY PARK, Pa. – U.S. Army aviation experts are asking the Boeing Co. to build nine CH-47F Block II Chinook heavy-lift helicopters under terms of contracts worth $461 million, Boeing officials announced earlier this month.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., are asking the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in Ridley Park, Pa., to provide the nine CH-47F Block II helicopters and avionics.
The CH-47F Block II is the latest variant of the Boeing Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. Compared to earlier versions, it has extensive upgrades to enhance payload capacity, operational range, digital systems, and sustainability.
CH-47F Block II is to sustain U.S. Army vertical-lift capability in large-scale and contested operations. This version has increased maximum gross weight; reinforced airframe, upgraded drive train; streamlined fuel system; digital modernization; enhanced rotor blades; and enhanced sustainment and interoperability.
Avionics systems
The electronics of the Boeing CH-47F Block II Chinook represents a significant modernization, offering advanced cockpit, navigation, mission management, communications, and electrical capabilities designed for demanding battlefield environments.
The CH-47F Block II has the RTX Collins Aerospace Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) cockpit, which provides a digital, modular, and open-systems architecture, with multifunction liquid crystal displays, electronic flight instruments, and night-vision compatible controls. The helicopter's avionics maintains commonality with the MH-47G special operations variant to simplify logistics and reduce costs.
The open-systems standards-based avionics supports degraded visual environment (DVE) sensors and is built to accept future autonomous or semi-autonomous flight capabilities through software upgrades. The Digital Advanced Flight Control System (DAFCS) from BAE Systems, and an active parallel actuator system ensures precise flight management that integrates with the cockpit displays and mission planning hardware.
Helicopter communications
The helicopter has a communications suite with jam-resistant HF and UHF radios from Collins Aerospace, plus secure digital data links. It features identification friend or foe (IFF) capabilities via systems such as the AN/APX-100 IFF.
Modular interface support enables rapid upgrades or integrating new countermeasures such as missile approach warning systems, radar warning receivers, and chaff and flare dispensers.
Block II has three 60 kilovolt-ampere generators, with enough electrical capacity for mission systems, defense electronics, and potential future upgrades. Integrated power distribution panels (PDPs) handle control and distribution for all circuits within the aircraft with transformers, relays, and circuit breakers for system protection.
Open-systems standards
Use of the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) electronics design approach enables rapid integration of new sensing or mission systems like enhanced visual and infrared sensors for difficult flying conditions. Software upgrades and streamlined cockpit displays increase operational effectiveness, especially in complex multi-role missions.
The CH-47F Block II can cruise as fast as 157 knots; can fly as far as 400 nautical miles without refueling; can fly as high as 20,000 feet; can carry as much as 22,000 pounds of payload; accommodates a crew of three; and can carry as many as 33 to 55 warfighters. The helicopter is expected to serve well into the 2060s.
For more information contact Boeing Defense, Space & Security online at https://www.boeing.com/defense/ch-47-chinook#overview, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa/.
