Boeing CH-47 Chinook CH-47J

The CH-47J is the Chinook version built for Japan, manufactured in the country by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) under licence from Boeing. Spanish Wikipedia calls it a unique case among export customers, both for its production arrangement and for its local modifications: Japan is the largest Chinook operator outside the United States and uses the helicopter for national defence, heavy transport, resupply and disaster relief.

Origins and selection. Since 1966 the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) had flown the V-107, a version of the KV-107II (the Japanese-built CH-46), as its heavy tandem-rotor helicopter. Its successor was the CH-47, introduced in 1986: the first aircraft was imported, the second to fifth were assembled from knock-down kits, and from the sixth onwards production moved to Kawasaki. English Wikipedia adds that Boeing began delivering five CH-47J kits for assembly at Kawasaki in September 1985, and that the CH-47J registered N7425H made its first flight in January 1986 and was shipped to Kawasaki in April. Boeing supplied flyable airframes, to which Kawasaki added full avionics, interior and final paint. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) reached the same aircraft by a different route. Having equipped itself with C-1 and C-130 transports to link its main bases, it decided to build a feeder airlift to its outlying sites such as radar stations and air-defence units. The concept was approved on 12 October 1981 and requirements were set in April 1982. The shortlist was the CH-47 Model 414 and the CH-53E; both met the requirement, but cost favoured the former, adopted as the CH-47J. The first JASDF aircraft was ordered under the fiscal 1984 plan.

Design. The CH-47J closely follows the US Army CH-47D; the differences are the engines, rotor brake and avionics, because Japan also wanted it for search and rescue and disaster work. The engines are T55-K-712s licence-built by Kawasaki, each rated at 3,149 shp maximum continuous and 4,336 shp for take-off, and the radios meet Japanese standards. In JGSDF service it has a crew of three, pilots and flight engineer. The JASDF version flies with five: two pilots, a flight engineer and two loadmasters who handle cargo, the hoist and firefighting buckets. It carries a rescue hoist above the starboard cabin door and adjustable rear landing gear, the "floor levelling device" developed by Kawasaki with Sumitomo Precision Products to bring the cabin floor level with a cargo loader. According to Japanese Wikipedia this patented system is fitted only to JASDF CH-47Js among all the world's Chinooks.

The CH-47JA. From 1993 JGSDF production switched to the long-range CH-47JA: the Ground force took 34 CH-47Js (serials JG-52901 to 52934) up to 1995, and from the 35th aircraft onwards JAs were built. The side fuselage pods were enlarged to double the fuel load, a weather radar went into the nose, a mount was added for the AAQ-16 FLIR, and the cockpit became partly glass. Four CH-47Js were upgraded to JA standard, and from at least the 69th aircraft the engines are FADEC-equipped T55-K-712As (4,115 shp continuous). Some JAs of the 1st Helicopter Brigade carry an international-mission fit: engine particle separators, AN/ALE-47 countermeasures dispensers, AN/AAR-47 missile warning, door-gun mounts, armour and a satellite phone. The JASDF kept the CH-47J designation, although aircraft ordered from fiscal 2002 have a weather radar and more fuel and are informally known as "LR" (long range).

Production. Figures vary by source. English Wikipedia gives 61 aircraft from Kawasaki by April 2001 and a Japan Defense Agency order for 54 (39 for the JGSDF and 15 for the JASDF); Spanish Wikipedia gives 50 CH-47Js and 42 CH-47JAs by 2001. In 2026 Boeing said the two companies had co-produced more than 100 CH-47J/JA aircraft.

Service. In the JGSDF the type serves with the aviation school, the 1st Helicopter Brigade at Kisarazu and regional helicopter units at Somagahara, Miho, Takayubaru and Naha. In the JASDF it serves with the Air Rescue Wing, in four helicopter airlift squadrons at Misawa, Iruma, Kasuga and Naha. In March 2022 the JASDF had 15 CH-47Js and the JGSDF 47 J/JAs; at the end of March 2025, 15 and 49. After the 2011 earthquake, CH-47s of the 1st Helicopter Brigade dropped sea water on the Fukushima nuclear plant, with lead plates on the floor to protect the crews; the JASDF hoist was also used in that disaster. On 30 March 2007 a CH-47JA of the 101st Squadron flying a patient transfer crashed in bad weather on Mount Amagi, Tokunoshima, killing its four crew; on 6 March 2018 a Naha-based CH-47 lost its rear door near Okinoerabu.

Replacement. The December 2022 defence build-up plan called for 34 new aircraft, but the weak yen drove up the cost of Boeing parts (the unit price rose from 147 to 200 hundred million yen), and the 2024 budget funded only 12. In February 2025 Japan ordered 17 CH-47 Block II Extended Range helicopters (CH-47JA Block II), with a digital cockpit, reinforced airframe and enhanced fuel tanks, co-produced by Boeing and Kawasaki to replace part of the fleet. Japan was the fourth customer for the configuration after the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. In October 2026 Boeing, Kawasaki and the Ministry of Defense marked the programme's 40th anniversary in Philadelphia.