The U.S. Army has awarded Boeing a $276 million contract to fund engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of the CH-47F Chinook Block II program. The manufacturer will build and test three upgraded helicopters under the contract.
The Chinook Block II upgrade introduces new swept-tip, anhedral Advanced Chinook Rotor Blades providing 1,500 pounds greater lift capacity, an improved drive train, single (as opposed to segmented) sponson fuel tanks on each side of the fuselage and strengthened aft, pylon and nose sections.
CH-47F maximum gross weight will increase from 50,000 pounds to 54,000 pounds (with payload increasing from 19,278 pounds to 22,207 pounds), matching the weight of G models, Boeing said during a briefing in May.
The Army granted the upgrade program Milestone B approval to move from the technology maturation phase to EMD in April. The Department of Defense announced the contract award from the Army’s Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, on July 27; it calls for completing work in three years.
Boeing plans to start building the EMD helicopters next year, and begin testing them in 2019. It expects the Army will make a Milestone C decision to begin low-rate initial production of fleet helicopters in 2021, with first delivery of a Block II Chinook following in 2023.
Block II Chinooks will be retrofitted from current CH-47F and special operations MH-47G models, numbering 473 and 69 airframes, respectively, for a total of 542 helicopters. The upgrade “will likely bring another two decades of work” to Boeing’s Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, manufacturing facility outside of Philadelphia, the manufacturer said in a release.
“This latest upgrade for the Chinook fleet is a tribute to the robustness of its original design and exemplifies its 55-year legacy of technological advancements,” said Chuck Dabundo, Boeing’s H-47 program manager.