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The CH-47 Chinook is a heavy helicopter made by the American manufacturer Boeing, easily identifiable by its elongated shape and its two rotors. Brought into service in 1962, its capabilities and its upgrades to more modern standards, still make it one of the most widely used heavy transport aircraft in the armed forces today.
History of the CH-47 Chinook
In June 1958, the US government ordered around ten units of the latest model from the Vertol company, the V-107. However, following army trials, the helicopter was judged too light for transport missions and too heavy for attack missions. This model was nevertheless adapted and delivered to the Marine Corps under the designation CH-46 Sea Knight.
Boeing acquired Vertol in 1960 and thus took over production of the enlarged V-114 model then ordered by the United States. On 21 September 1961 the V-114 made its first flight. The following year, in 1962, the aircraft entered service under the designation CH-47A. It was named Chinook, after a Native American people of the Pacific Northwest.
Several versions were developed to improve the Chinook’s capabilities and meet the specific requirements of the nations buying it. The most important model is the CH-47D, first brought into service in 1982.
Along with the C130 Hercules, the CH-47 Chinook is one of the few aircraft from the 1960s still being developed and used more than six decades on.
Overview of the Chinook
Its shape, engine power and lift capacity give it exceptional characteristics which, 60 years after its first flight, still deliver performance that is quite rare for a utility helicopter.
Technical characteristics of the CH-47 Chinook
The CH-47 Chinook is 30.2 metres long and 5.7 metres high. Its rotor diameter is 18.3 metres.
This helicopter weighs 10.2 tonnes empty, 12.1 tonnes when armed and 22.9 tonnes at maximum load.
As early as 1962, the Chinook’s speed of 310 km/h outstripped utility and attack helicopters. Even today, it is one of the fastest military helicopters.
The CH-47 has a range of 185 km with a 3.3-tonne load.
Boeing’s helicopter costs between 25 and 32 million dollars per unit.
The different Chinook models
The ACH-47A, for armed and armoured, is the attack model of the Chinook developed by the United States, capable of carrying five machine guns. Four helicopters of this type were developed during the Vietnam War; three were lost and the last one is preserved at the Redstone Arsenal site in Alabama.
The CH-47B is an interim model built while waiting for the development of the following C model. Its ability to drop napalm or tear gas from its rear loading ramp was used against enemy bunkers in Vietnam. Just over a hundred helicopters of this model were built.
The CH-47C has more powerful engines capable of lifting a mass of 21 tonnes. This model was built in 233 units.
The CH-47D has even more powerful engines, improved avionics and a three-hook external cargo system allowing it to carry underslung cargo, vehicles or equipment.
On air assault missions, the CH-47D’s hold can carry an M198 155mm howitzer, thirty rounds and eleven troops. 472 older Chinooks have been upgraded to the CH-47D model.
Further reading: the largest military helicopters.
The MH-47D is the US special forces model, fitted with a probe for in-flight refuelling as well as a fast-rope system. Twelve MH47-Ds were built to equip the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
The MH-47E is also a US special forces helicopter. Very similar to the MH-47D, it nonetheless has larger fuel tanks and a terrain-following and terrain-avoidance radar. This model was built in 26 units.
The MH-47G is the most recent Chinook model, delivered in 2020 to the US special forces. Two tonnes heavier, it nevertheless has improved electronic and avionic systems that make flying in low-visibility conditions easier and increase its stealth. It also carries twice the volume of fuel and can be refuelled in flight.
The CH-47F, released in 2006, is an improvement on the CH-47D model. It requires less maintenance and has a longer service life.
The CH-47J is the model developed for the Japanese air fleet. Around sixty CH-47Js have been built.
Use by the armed forces
Today the Chinook is a heavy utility helicopter used by twenty nations. On the French side, the French Air and Space Force has said it is interested in a possible purchase of CH47Gs under the next Military Programming Law (LPM) in 2025.
A worldwide presence
Since 1960, more than 1,200 Chinook helicopters have been built.
Its main user is the US Army, with around 850 aircraft in its fleet, comprising CH-47D, CH-47F, MH-47D and MH-47E models.
The Japan Self-Defense Forces have 34 CH-47J Chinooks in their Ground component and 21 in their Air component.
The British have 40 D-model Chinooks in their Royal Air Force.
The Netherlands has acquired eleven CH647D Chinooks and twenty CH-47Fs, a fleet of 31 Chinook helicopters.
South Korea has 25 Chinooks, two thirds of them in its army.
The Canadian army has replaced its CH-47Ds with fifteen Chinooks of the more advanced model, the CH-47F.
Other countries have acquired the Chinook, mostly the CH-47D model: Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Spain, Greece, Iran, Italy, India, Libya, Morocco, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.
Missions of the Chinook
The Chinook is a transport helicopter, for troops, weapons or vehicles. It can also carry out medical evacuation missions or transport equipment as part of humanitarian missions.
In 1965, during the Vietnam War, four Chinook companies were deployed: three belonged to the 1st Cavalry Division and another to the 147th Aviation Regiment. The Chinooks could then mount an M60 machine gun at each of the front doors. Their most impressive mission was to bring artillery pieces into hostile mountainous areas accessible only by air, and then to resupply them. US personnel noticed that the Chinook’s capabilities could decline depending on the environment: in the mountains the CH-47’s maximum load decreases by 450 kg compared with the coast, and in hot, humid environments its maximum lift is also reduced by 20% (lowlands) or 30% (mountains). In 1966, four CH-47s were converted into ACH-47As. This model, with better armour, is also armed with two fixed forward-firing 20mm cannons, five .50 machine guns, a 40mm grenade-launcher turret and two weapon pods on the sides. These pods can carry 7.62mm miniguns or 70mm rocket launchers.
This ACH-47A Chinook model was formidable in combat. However, it was expensive to maintain, and the helicopter was so useful as a carrier of artillery or heavy logistics that it mainly carried out assault troop transport missions. Some Chinooks were used for casualty evacuation missions, during which their hold was generally overloaded, but also to recover downed aircraft. At the height of the war, the US Army had nearly 750 Chinook helicopters in Vietnam, or 21 companies. However, it lost around 200 of them in wartime accidents or in combat.
In the 1970s, Iran acquired around a hundred CH-47C Chinooks. It lost one in an incident in Soviet airspace in 1978, when four Iranian Air Force Chinooks strayed off course during a training mission. Intercepted by a Russian fighter, one of them was destroyed and its eight crew members killed, while a second was forced to land. During its war with Iraq, Iran relied heavily on its Chinook fleet, losing eight of them between 1980 and 1988. On 15 July 1983 in particular, three Iranian Chinooks and the troops on board were shot down by an Iraqi Mirage while heading to the front line. In 2015, Iran had between 20 and 45 operational Chinooks.
During the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991, the United States deployed 163 CH-47D Chinooks, spread between Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait. These transport helicopters served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The US Army also used them in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom and in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Chinook then took part in air assaults, dropping troops in areas suited to firing, and then carried out resupply of food and ammunition. The Chinook’s capabilities proved essential, especially on this difficult, hot and mountainous terrain, where helicopters such as the Black Hawk are limited.
The Chinook has proved useful in relief missions during disasters. In 1992, six Chinooks were deployed to North Carolina after Hurricane Andrew. In 2004, the Republic of Singapore sent its air force to Indonesia to support humanitarian efforts after a tsunami devastated the country. In 2005, several British Royal Air Force Chinooks landed in northern Pakistan after an earthquake in the Kashmir region. In 2011, following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, three Chinooks of the Japanese army collected seawater and poured it onto the plant’s reactors to cool them.
Finally, more recently, British Chinook helicopters were integrated into the Desert Aero-combat Battlegroup (GTD A) as part of Operation Barkhane in Mali. The Chinooks thus worked with the Malian, Nigerien and French armed forces to deliver fuel or freight and to carry up to 34 equipped troops.
