Page 54 - HeliOps Frontline Issue 26

54 HELIOPS FRONTLINE / ISSUE 26 / 2019

the development costs would be steep and that the technology
required would not be simple or risk-free to produce.
Although an old design, in airframe terms the CH-47F fleet is
the youngest in the Army’s inventory, with the last new aircraft
coming down the line in the near future. Cancelling or delaying
the Block II after the Engineering Manufacturing Demonstration
(EMD) phase will help to fund those ‘Big 6’ ambitions. But. It
would leave the Army without a heavy-lift helicopter in full-rate
production, development or even design. True, the -47 line will not
be completely closed as there is a line for Block II enhanced MH-
47Gs for SOCOM (and, it seems, likely the UK Royal Air Force) and
there remains a trickle of overseas orders for the basic CH-47F, with
some significant export opportunities with both Germany and Israel
close to finalising their heavy lift requirements and, given the stark
shortfall of heavy lift that’s been exposed by operations in Mali,
even the potential of a French order. However, these will not secure
jobs and supply chain as effectively as full-rate Block II production
for the US Army would do, nor keep the production costs (and hence
unit cost) down.

COMPROMISE?

Perhaps the answer is, as always, a compromise. The EMD
phase for Block II will, hopefully, prove the performance benefits
of the ACRB and certify them for use on the airframe. The Army
could enter a less ambitious and significantly less expensive
program to re-blade the Block I fleet with the ACRB to deliver a
‘Block 1.5’ capability with the 1500lbs or so of payload bought back.