Boeing Chinook (UK variants)

Chinook
Chinook HC6A of 18 Sqn RAF in 2020
General information
TypeTransport helicopter
ManufacturerBoeing Defense, Space & Security
StatusIn service
Primary userRoyal Air Force
History
Introduction date1980 with RAF
First flight23 March 1980 (HC1)
Developed fromBoeing CH-47 Chinook

The Boeing Chinook is a large, tandem rotor helicopter operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A series of variants based on the United States Army's Boeing CH-47 Chinook, the RAF Chinook fleet is the largest outside the United States.[1] RAF Chinooks have seen extensive service in the Falklands War, the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The Chinook, normally based at RAF Odiham in England, provides heavy-lift support and transport across all branches of the British armed forces since the early 1980s.[2] The RAF has a total of sixty Chinooks in active inventory as of 2015.[3] In 2018, the UK issued a request to the United States to purchase sixteen additional rotorcraft.[4] The Chinook is expected to remain in RAF service until the 2040s.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference raf_page was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Great Britain: Parliament (2009). (RAF). p. 57.
  3. ^ "Final new-build Chinook HC6s delivered to UK RAF". 10 December 2015.
  4. ^ "United Kingdom – H-47 Chinook (Extended Range) Helicopters and Accessories". United States Defense Security Cooperation Agency. 19 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  5. ^ Baldwin, Harriett (7 December 2017). "Chinook Helicopters: Written question – 116751". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.