Boeing [BA] has delivered the final MH-47G Chinook to Army Special Operations Command and plans are in the works for another eight aircraft, officials said.
The G-model Chinook is a “phenomenal” aircraft, and the last modifications are being done on the final two G models, said Col. Pat Mason, project manager at the Technology Applications Project Office (TAPO), which works to improve and support the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne).
The first MH-47G flew into combat in 2007 and the Gs have been in harm’s way every since, Mason said here at the Army Aviation Association of America annual conference.
Boeing has now delivered 61 of the special operations G service life extension aircraft. Under the nearly decade-long plan, earlier Chinook models D and E were remanufactured into the G aircraft, incorporating SOF-specific capabilities.
Looking to the future, Mason said aviators want another eight of the aircraft, giving operators a total of 69 aircraft. These eight aircraft would have a machined airframe, “for the first time built from the bottom up.”
The new aircraft would leverage the work already done by the F-model community and the Boeing Cargo Team, putting the special operations kit on the new airframe (Defense Daily, Nov 23, 2010).
Additionally, TAPO continues to work on integrating the BAE Systems Digital Advanced Flight Control System (DAFCS)–a successful system currently on the F-model Chinook in the conventional force. DAFCS was not ready to go when the G models were being produced. It will particularly reduce pilot workload while increasing capability, Mason said.
Army special operations aviation is getting more attention with its newest unit, Army Special Operations Aviation Command, activating at the end of March. The new command will organize, man, train, resource and equip Army Special Operations Command aviation to provide responsive, special ops aviation support, and would be Army special operations command’s aviation staff proponent.
Brig. Gen. Kevin Mangum, who commands the new unit, said the enterprise would “represent, orchestrate and advocate,” the Army said.
The new unit is an outgrowth of the decade of conflict that saw Army special operations command aviation recognize the need to separate the combat role from resourcing.
The new command will have a headquarters, and sweep together the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), headquartered at Fort Campbell, Ky.; Army Special Operations Command Flight Detachment, Fort Bragg, N.C.; the Systems Integration Management Office, and Special Operations Aviation Training Battalion, both at Fort Campbell, Ky.