PAUL LEWIS / FORT CAMPBELL, KENTUCKY
Command plans to rebuild and modernise remaining MH-47Es to MH-47G standard
The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is considering acquiring six Singapore Boeing CH-47D Chinooks as interim replacements for MH-47E helicopters destroyed or heavily damaged during recent operations in Afghanistan and the Philippines. The CH-47Ds would also provide fleet sustainment during the planned rebuild and modernisation to MH-47G standard.
The Singapore air force operates six CH-47Ds for training. It has since acquired 12 improved CH-47SD machines with a Honeywell glass cockpit and wants to standardise the fleet on this version.
SOCOM is looking at a number of options to bolster the dwindling number of MH-47Es available to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, including converting standard US Army CH-47Ds. The Singapore machines are attractive as they are already structurally configured for the same enlarged 7,827 litre (2,070 USGal) fuel tanks as on the MH-47Es.
The MH-47E's extended endurance, along with an in-flight refuelling probe, uprated Honey-well T55-714A engines, 24,495kg (54,000lb) increased gross weight and terrain avoidance/following radar, makes it the only US machine capable of effectively operating in the 3,050-4880m (10,000-16,000ft) terrain of Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains. Between October and December last year the MH-47Es flew 90 6-10h missions into Afghanistan from the Karshi Khanabad air base in Uzbekistan.
This activity has taken its toll, with one MH-47E recently destroyed in combat and at least four machines so badly damaged they will require rebuilding. A second MH-47E recently crashed in the Philippines, while a 1996 loss has never been replaced. Boeing only built 26 of the special operations helicopters, as well as converting 11 MH-47Ds.
SOCOM plans to modify six helicopters a year with a yet-to-be-defined digital cockpit, survivability suite, low maintenance rotor hub, strengthened airframe structure and improved engines with infrared suppressor and cargo handling.
Source: Flight International
