August 9, 2008:
Last February, Canada set up a deal to lease
CH-47 ("Chinooked") helicopters to support their combat troops in
Afghanistan. Getting some CH-47s to
lease proved difficult. These helicopters are in great demand, because of their
ability to move troops and cargo quickly and safely across combat zones in Iraq
and Afghanistan. Moreover, the largest user, the U.S. Army is in the midst of
refurbishing its fleet of CH-47 transport helicopters. That will produce a
fleet of 513 CH-47F helicopters (including 397 rebuilt CH-47D choppers, 55 new
ones plus special versions.) The program makes the rebuilt machines good for
another twenty years of service. The F model CH-47 has up-to-date digital
communications, is easier to maintain, and cheaper to operate. The CH-47F can
carry ten tons of cargo, or up to 55 troops, and has a maximum range of 426
kilometers. Its max speed is 315 kilometers an hour. Typical missions last no
more than 2.5 hours.
Canada is getting six of
the older CH-47Ds before the end of the year. This is actually a lease/purchase
that will cost about $50 million per helicopter. In support of this, since last
March, over a hundred Canadian pilots and maintainers have been training in the United States. Canada has also
got on the waiting list for sixteen new CH-47Fs, which they should receive in
about five years.
The first CH-47s
entered service in 1962, able to carry only five tons. Some 750 saw service in
Vietnam, and 200 were lost in action. Between 1982-94, 500 CH-47s were rebuilt
to the CH-47D standard. SOCOM operates 31 MH-47Ds and Es, which have additional
navigation gear. These are being upgraded to MH-47F standards, and the fleet
expanded to 61 helicopters. As a result of all this, the CH-47 will end up
serving at least 75 years. The CH-47F upgrades and new builds will not be
completed until 2018. That means a lot of these helicopters are tied up being rebuilt,
while the others are working hard to support troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Many of these helicopters are then sidelined for extensive maintenance, in
order to keep them operational until they can get the CH-47F upgrades done. The
Canadian military has , for years, tried
to buy these helicopters, but new CH-47F's cost about $35 million each, and
Canadian legislators didn't want to
spend a lot of money on new military helicopters, at least not in
peacetime. But with 4,000 Canadian
troops in Afghanistan (by the end of the
year), a new sense of urgency developed.
So in the meantime,
Canada has leased eight slightly smaller Mi-8 helicopters from an East European
firm arriving in a few months, for one year of service. The leased choppers can
only carry freight, except in emergencies, when they can also carry Canadian
troops. Britain is under tremendous political and media pressure to do the
same.