Two 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment MH-47G Chinook helicopters hover above Banana River, Florida. (Photo: Staff Sgt Darius Sostre-Miroir)
US Army Special Operations Aviation Command (USASOAC) has awarded Boeing a US$115 million contract for two more MH-47G Block II Chinook aircraft and begin advanced procurement on future helicopters.
With a reinforced airframe, redesigned fuel tanks and new avionics, the MH-47G Block II heavy-lift helicopter improves USASOAC’S capability and enables future modernisation efforts in an effort to keep the heavy-lift helicopter flying for decades to come.
The order is the latest by the US Army for MH-47G Block IIs. Boeing announced in October 2020 that it had received a contract for nine additional MH-47G Block IIs, in November 2021 $212.62 million for six more and in March 2022 a $194.63 million contract six more remanufactured MH-47Gs.
More than 600 CH-47F/MH-47G Chinooks have been delivered with a further 140 on order.
About 500 are in US service and 14 of the type have been ordered by the UK. Australia, Canada, Egypt, India, Italym the Netherlands and UAE have all ordered more than a dozen of the type.
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