Boeing [BA] has received a $793.4 million deal to build 18 CH-47F Block I Chinook heavy-lift helicopters for South Korea and one aircraft for Spain, while Germany on Wednesday approved its potential deal worth over $8 billion for 60 of the upgraded Block II aircraft.
The German government will now sign and return a Letter of Acceptance for the CH-47F Block II foreign military sale, which will then allow the U.S. government to begin work with Boeing on a contract for the aircraft.
“The positive vote by the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag for the procurement of 60 CH-47F Block II Chinooks not only confirms the confidence in the Chinook’s battle-tested and unmatched capabilities, but also in Boeing and our industry team,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. “The CH-47F Chinook is a proven and extremely capable utility helicopter. It has served as a proven workhorse for numerous NATO missions for many years and will significantly strengthen Germany’s interoperability with the U.S., NATO and allied nations. We are pleased to be able to deliver the CH-47F Block II Chinook to the Bundeswehr.”
The State Department in May approved a potential $8.5 billion deal with Germany for 60 CH-47F Block IIs, after Berlin selected Boeing as the winner of its future heavy-lift helicopter competition last June (Defense Daily, May 11).
The Army officially awarded the $793.4 million order to Boeing on June 30 for the Chinook Block I aircraft for South Korea and Spain, with the deal representing the final aircraft under the company’s current FMS contract for the platform.
“The CH-47F Block I Chinook continues to be the preeminent heavy-lift helicopter in the world for good reason,” Heather McBryan, Boeing’s H-47 vice president and program manager, said in a statement. “While this concludes Block I orders as we continue our modernization efforts, we’ll continue supporting our customers’ aircraft as they play a vital role for years to come.”
South Korea approved a plan to upgrade its Chinook fleet to the F-model in July 2022, and the State Department last December approved a $1.5 billion deal with the country for CH-47F Block Is and other equipment (Defense Daily, Dec. 6 2022).
Spain finalized a deal in early 2019 to upgrade its fleet of 17 Chinook helicopters to the F-model configuration (Defense Daily, Jan. 3 2019).
“South Korea adds to a growing list of operators around the globe that recognize the value the modernized CH-47F Chinook brings to the table,” Vince Logsdon, Boeing Defense, Space & Security’s vice president for global business development and strategic marketing, said in a statement. “While Spain is already reaping the benefits of the aircraft in Europe, we are honored to support South Korea’s heavy-lift helicopter modernization with a versatile product capable of meeting the demanding mission requirements in Asia Pacific.”
McBryan told reporters in May that Boeing’s production level for Chinook heavy-lift helicopters will still be at a “minimum sustaining rate” after factoring in Germany’s plan to procure the 60 of CH-47F Block IIs (Defense Daily, May 24).
“With the low-rate [production] that we have with the Army right now [for CH-47F Block II and] with Germany, we will still hover maybe a little bit over the minimum sustainable rate,” McBryan said during a media visit to the company’s facility in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. “But we’re certainly not back to where the comfort level would be for the industrial base.”
McBryan said at the time Boeing would like to get back to producing 30 to 36 Chinooks a year across the different models, while noting the company will deliver 20 of the aircraft in 2023 and with that number expected to dip down to 18 aircraft per year across the line.
The Army has not included funding for CH-47F Block IIs in its recent budget requests as it assesses the path forward for the program, while Congress has added funds in final appropriations bills covering a few of the new aircraft to sustain what a Boeing program official previously called a “minimum sustainable rate” for the platform (Defense Daily, April 27).
The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, approved by the panel last month, authorizes $177.5 million for the Army to procure four more CH-47F Block IIs.
The first CH-47F Block II aircraft entered final assembly in March and will be delivered to the Army in early 2024, with a second aircraft also now in the final stages of production.
Doug Bush, the Army’s top acquisition official, has cited international interest in the CH-47F Block II, to include the German procurement, as a key factor for additional production opportunities while the service continues assessing how it will proceed on the program.
McBryan said in May a Milestone C decision from the Army to move CH-47F Block II into full-rate production is expected at the end of this year for the FY ‘25 budget cycle, adding that a delay in that decision “increases the risk of that supplier turnover and that unhealthy industrial base.”
Boeing is also under contract for 36 MH-47Gs, the Special Operations variant of the platform, with the Army requesting funding for six more of the aircraft in its FY ‘24 budget.
The U.K. also has a plan to procure 14 extended-range CH-47F Block IIs, with McBryan noting production on those aircraft is expected to begin in early 2025 with deliveries starting in 2026 (Defense Daily, June 22 2021).