REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – U.S. Army aviation experts are asking the Boeing Co. to build as many as 60 CH-47F Block II Chinook heavy-lift helicopters under terms of $876.4 million contract 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 CH-47F Block II helicopters, avionics, logistics, and training.
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.
CH-47F electronics
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.
Tell me more about how the Army uses the CH-47F heavy-life helicopter ...
- The Army uses the CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopter primarily for critical combat and non-combat operations including troop movements, battlefield logistics, and disaster relief. It can transport as many as 36 soldiers or 24 stretchers and lift intra-theater payloads as heavy as 16,000 pounds in harsh environments. The CH-47F features a digital cockpit with advanced avionics for improved situational awareness and flight control in adverse conditions like reduced visibility or high winds. It supports multi-point sling loads with a triple cargo hook system, enabling the transport of artillery, vehicles, fuel, and ammunition to remote areas. The helicopter also is valuable for special operations, search and rescue, and homeland-defense missions with fast-rope and hoist capability for troop insertions and extra cargo flexibility.
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 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 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.
On this contract, Boeing will do the work in Ridley Park, Pa., and should be finished by October 2035. For more information contact Boeing Defense, Space & Security online at www.boeing.com/defense/ch-47-chinook#overview, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa/.
