The H-47 Chinook served in Vietnam, and modern versions of that aircraft are set to be the US Army’s medium-lift helicopter into the 2030s. As recent articles covering Australia’s CH-47 upgrades, and Canada’s lack of helicopter support in Afghanistan have noted, the Chinook has proven particularly useful in the high altitudes and temperatures of Afghanistan, which limit the usefulness of traditional platforms like the US Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. MH-47 Special Forces Chinooks have also seen extensive employment in Afghanistan’s “commando Olympics.”
Commitment costs, of course, and so a pair of recent delivery orders illustrate some of the ongoing contracts that keep America’s H-47 Chinook fleet going.
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Honeywell International Inc. in Tempe, AZ received the full delivery order amount of $75 million on a firm-fixed-price contract for the commercial maintenance and overhaul of the CH-47D Chinook’s T55-GA-714A engine and its components. Work will be performed in Greer, SC (90%), and Tempe, AZ (10%), and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2009. This was a sole source contract initiated on May 4, 2004 by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal, AL (W58RGZ-04-D-0215).
Boeing Military Aircraft and Missile System Group in Philadelphia, PA received a delivery order amount of $98.5 million as part of a $378 million fixed-price-incentive-fee contract for the MH-47G Aircraft – Lot IV Under the aircrafts’ Service Life Extension Program. Work will be performed in Eddystone, PA, and is expected to be complete by March 31, 2008. This was a sole source contract initiated on April 11, 2005 by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command in Fort Eustis, VA (W58RGZ-04-G-0023).