Bell has stripped two Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-146 Griffon light/medium utility helicopters at company facilities in Mirabel, ahead of upgrading them under the Griffon Limited Life Extension (GLLE) programme.
One of the two aircraft being reassembled will be developed as the first upgraded prototype and it will make a first flight around September 2023.
‘They are in different stages of being stripped and very shortly we will reassemble the first one,’ said Marc Bigaouette, Canadian government programme director at Bell.
‘Now that we have completed the [GLLE] definition phase and understand what the government of Canada is