Boeing Delivers 36 Chinook Helicopters in 2007
The Boeing Company in 2007 delivered 36 Chinook helicopters to U.S. Army and international customers, meeting scheduled commitments and matching the program’s performance during the Army’s model upgrade program in the early 1990s.
The Chinook manufacturing facility in Ridley Park, Pa., delivered four MH-47Gs, 30 CH-47Fs and two international aircraft in 2007, just 13 months after the first CH-47F rolled off the production line.
Under the Army’s Chinook modernization program, Boeing will produce 513 aircraft, including 61 MH-47G special operations aircraft and 452 CH-47Fs. Chinooks also are operated by 15 countries worldwide, and Boeing is working with several countries who have expressed interest in the new CH-47F.
The CH-47F features a newly designed, modernized airframe, a Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) cockpit and a BAE Digital Advanced Flight Control System (DAFCS).
Advanced avionics also incorporate improved situational awareness for flight crews with an advanced digital map display and a data transfer system that allows storing of preflight and mission data. Improved survivability features include Common Missile Warning and Improved Countermeasure Dispenser Systems. The entire suite of improved cockpit capabilities will apply to other H-47 models.
Powered by two 4,868-horsepower Honeywell engines, the new CH-47F can reach speeds greater than 175 mph and transport more than 21,000 lbs. The CH-47F, with the Robertson Aviation Extended Range Fuel System, has a mission radius of more than 400 nautical miles.