Boeing CH-47 Chinook CH-47F

The CH-47F was born as the major update of the CH-47D, which had for years been the U.S. Army's standard Chinook. In the mid-1990s Boeing and the Army agreed a modernisation programme that would lead to this version, and the Army also asked for it to inherit some of the lessons of the special-operations MH-47. Several improvements already tried on the export CH-47SD, such as digital flight controls and full authority digital engine control (FADEC), were also carried over. The prototype, a converted CH-47D, first flew in 2001, and in 2004 the Army decided to add the Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) cockpit developed for the MH-47G.

The deepest change is in the structure. The airframe moved to a better-integrated milled construction, with changes to the cockpit, cabin, aft section, pylon and ramp. This construction reduces vibration, cuts inspection and repair work and removes flexing points, which lengthens the aircraft's service life. In the cockpit, the Rockwell Collins CAAS combines five multi-function displays, a moving map, a digital modem and a data transfer system that stores pre-flight and mission data. BAE Systems' Digital Advanced Flight Control System (DAFCS) adds modes such as automatic hover hold and altitude hold, intended for safe landings in brownout dust clouds. Protection includes the Common Missile Warning System and an improved countermeasure dispenser.

Power comes from two Honeywell T55-GA-714A turboshafts with FADEC. The specification credits them with 3,529 kW (4,733 shp) each, although Boeing and other sources from the period quote 4,868 shp. With them the CH-47F can exceed 282 km/h carrying more than 9,500 kg. The variant's data sheet gives an overall length of 30.14 m, a height of 5.69 m, an empty weight of 11,148 kg and a gross weight of 24,494 kg, with two 18 m rotors and 4,088 litres of fuel. It reaches 310 km/h maximum and 291 km/h cruise, a service ceiling of 6,100 m and a range of 740 km, with a combat radius of 306 km and a ferry range of 2,252 km. It carries a crew of three and 33 to 55 troops, 24 stretchers with three attendants or up to 10,886 kg of payload, and can mount up to three 7.62 mm M240 machine guns or an M134 Minigun.

The first production aircraft came off Boeing's line at Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, where it was unveiled in June 2006, and flew on 23 October that year. In April 2007 it completed operational testing at Fort Campbell, logging more than 60 flight hours that simulated air assault, combat resupply and transport missions. The Army then certified it combat-ready and assigned it to its first unit: B Company, 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Orders followed one another. Seven new aircraft were ordered in December 2003 to replace combat losses and ten more in January 2005. January 2007 brought 16 new and nine remanufactured machines, and February 2008 another 11, for a total of 59 new-build aircraft. In August 2008, with 48 already delivered, Boeing signed a multi-year contract for 191 Chinooks, and in June 2013 came another worth 4 billion dollars for 177. In addition, 397 Army CH-47Ds were converted to F standard, and in January 2025 the Army had 465 in service.

Outside the United States, the Netherlands was the first customer: it ordered the type in February 2007, received its first two aircraft in October 2012 and between 2015 and 2023 replaced its eleven remaining CH-47Ds with fourteen new CH-47Fs. Canada signed in August 2009 for fifteen heavily modified aircraft, delivered in 2013 and 2014 as the CH-147F. The United Kingdom announced the purchase of 24 in December 2009, and Australia ordered seven in March 2010, brought the first two into service in May 2015 and now operates fourteen. India approved buying fifteen in September 2015 and received the first six by July 2019. Singapore chose it in November 2016 to replace the Chinooks it had flown since 1994. Spain has converted thirteen CH-47Ds and bought four new aircraft, and Saudi Arabia has also ordered the type. In Italy, AgustaWestland builds it under licence as the ICH-47F, the first of which flew in June 2013. The version has kept evolving: in 2017 Boeing was contracted to bring some 500 Army Chinooks to Block II standard, and in June 2022 Germany chose the CH-47F Block 2 to replace its CH-53Gs and ordered sixty.