Boeing expects to receive a $50-100 million contract within the next three months to perform risk-reduction and preliminary design work to upgrade the UK Royal Air Force's Boeing CH-47 Chinook HC2 helicopters as part of its Support and Amphibious Battlefield Rotorcraft (SABR) programme.
The proposed upgrade would optimise the Chinooks to allow operation from Royal Navy vessels.
Boeing says that it recently submitted a formal proposal to the UK Ministry of Defence detailing its intended approach to the risk- reduction phase, which is expected to last three years.
The upgrade is expected to embrace at least 20 but possibly as many as 40 aircraft.
Source: Flight International
