MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – Combat helicopter designers at the Boeing Co. will build MH-47G Chinook twin-rotor heavy-lift helicopters for U.S. Special Operations Forces under terms of an order announced Thursday worth nearly one billion dollars.
Officials of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., are asking the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in Ridley Park, Pa., to provide renew-build MH-47G heavy-assault helicopters under terms of an $877.7 million order.
Boeing engineers are carrying out a MH-47G renew project by using new, salvaged, reworked, or recapitalized components into an upgraded airframe. This upgrade to the special forces MH-47G includes new composite rotor blades, an improved drive train, single sponson fuel tanks, as well as strengthened aft, pylon, and nose sections.
The MH-47G is designed for long-range missions that include troop insertion, extraction, and resupply in hostile environments. It has advanced cargo-handling capabilities with a rear ramp for loading and unloading troops, supplies, and vehicles.
Digital common avionics
The MH-47G heavy-lift helicopter is similar to the MH-47E, but has more sophisticated avionics including a digital common avionics architecture system (CAAS) -- a common glass cockpit used by different helicopters.
The MH-47G is an advanced heavy-lift helicopter that is operated by the Night Stalkers of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) at Fort Campbell, Ky.
The MH-47G special operations helicopter is the most current and sophisticated MH-47 in service. It uses two T55-GA-714A engines with infrared exhaust suppressors to reduce the helicopter's vulnerability to infrared sensors and infrared-guided missiles.
Large fuel tanks that stick out from the sides of the helicopter extend the MH-47G's range, and the aircraft has an extendable probe for mid-air refueling.
Tell me more about special forces troop insertion and extraction ...
- Special forces troop insertion and extraction involve specialized techniques to deploy and retrieve personnel rapidly in challenging environments. Common methods include rappelling, fast roping, and the Special Patrol Insertion/Extraction (SPIE) system, where troops hook onto a rope suspended from a hovering helicopter for quick lifts without landing. These methods enable operations in dense jungles, urban areas, or water where landing is impossible. The SPIE system, developed during the Vietnam War, helps transport several personnel simultaneously as an external load. Helocasting involves jumping from helicopters into water. Extraction techniques put a priority on speed, safety, and adaptability to terrain and threat levels, often using helicopters like Black Hawks or Chinooks and sometimes covert systems like the historical Fulton recovery (skyhook).
The MH-47G has digital glass cockpit avionics that is compatible with night-vision goggles. It has five 6-by-8-inch liquid crystal multi-function display screens and two control display units. The cockpit shares the same processing and display units as the MH-60M Black Hawk helicopter.
The cockpit also has a digital moving map display, dual MIL-STD-1553 digital databuses, AN/ASN-137 inertial Doppler navigational set, CP1516-ASQ automatic target hand-off system, AN/ASN-149(V)2 GPS receiver, and Rockwell Collins AN/ARN-149(V) low-frequency automatic direction finder.
A forward-looking infrared (FLIR) and visible-light camera are mounted in a bubble under the helicopter's chin to enable pilots to fly at low levels at night and in bad weather. The CH-47G also has the Raytheon Silent Knight multi-mode radar that enables terrain-following, terrain-avoidance, and weather detection.
Fast insertion and extraction
The helicopter accommodates a crew of five, including two pilots and three crew chiefs or aerial gunners, and is equipped with gunner windows and firing ports. The helicopter has special-operations equipment such as fast rope insertion extraction systems, rope ladders, and electric rescue hoists.
It includes sophisticated defensive systems such as the common missile warning system, suite of integrated radio frequency countermeasures, laser warning systems, and specialized flare systems. Armaments typically feature M134 7.62-millimeter Gatling guns and M240 machine guns.
For more information contact Boeing Defense, Space & Security online at www.boeing.com/defense/ch-47-chinook, U.S. Special Operations Command at www.socom.mil, or the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) at https://go160thsoar.com/160th-soar-night-stalkers-service/.
