Would Mark 100 Years Of Service For The Iconic Helicopter

The U.S. Army believes it can fly the CH-47 Chinook helicopter through 2060, which would give the aircraft an operational life of 100 years.

The online publication Scoutwarrior.com reports that the life of the aircraft will be extended through a continuous series of upgrades that will improve avionics, lift, weight and cargo capabilities.

The aircraft was first introduced during the Vietnam war in the early 1960s. In a statement to Scoutwarrior, Lt. Col Ricard Bratt said that the goal is to maintain the Chinook's relevance to the warfighter for another 40+ years.

The current variant of the CH-47 is the "F" model. By 2018, the Army expects to have a fleet comprised only of 440 the "F" model aircraft. There are also plans for a new "Block 2" upgraded CH-47F, which would improve the aircraft's high-hot performance. It would also improve the aircraft's MTOW to 54,000 pounds, according to the report.

Other improvements already in the works include new composite rotor blades to add 4,000 pounds to the lift capability of the aircraft, and a Cargo-On/Off Loading System (COOLS) that includes rollers on the floor of the aircraft for the quick loading and unloading of pallets from the aircraft.

The helo will also benefit from improved ballistics protection to protect it from small arms fire, new gun mounts, crew chief seating, and vibration control systems.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.boeing.com/defense/ch-47-chinook/