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DND 101 Archive: Medium-Lift Helicopter – Boeing CH-147D
Chinook |
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Update: Update: TF-Afg Air Wing stood down 18 Aug 2011. An AF listing of aircraft hours
flown shows the CH-147Ds flying 7085 hours while carrying 89,314 passengers and 7,090,889 lbs (3,216.37 tonnes) of
freight. By comparison, leased Mi-8s flew 7,257.48 tonnes of cargo. One damaged CH-147D will return to Canada
(presumably to act as a training aid), the other 4 survivors will be stored, unsold at AMARG.
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CH-147D Chinook — the CF's Born-Again Medium-to-Heavy Lift
Transport Helicopter
The Canadian Forces operated 8 CH-147C Chinooks from 1974 to 1992.[1] In 2005, the then-CDS, General
Rick Hillier, made Chinooks (or similar medium-lift helicopters) his top priority for the Kandahar deployment. The Harper govern- ment responded in July 2006 with an
ACAN for 16 newly- built CH-47F Chinooks.[2]
Two and a half years later, that ACAN had yet to result in a contract with Boeing. Mean- while, DND
looked for alternatives and found the CH-47D. |
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The MND, Peter MacKay, rejected rebuilt US Army Chinooks. DND then attempted without success to
lease Chinooks from the US. Under pressure from the terms of the Manley Report, DND arranged to buy CH-47Ds already in Afghanistan from the US
Army. Six helicopters – redesignated CH-147D – were handed over to the CF in Dec 2008 to be
operational in Feb 2009.[3]
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Boeing CH-147D
Chinook Specifications
Dimen:
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Length: 15.6m fuselage, 30.2m rotors
turning,[4] width: 3.8m, ht.(oa): 5.8 m |
Power:
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2 x Honeywell T55-712
turboshafts
2796 kW (3750 shp) maximum power |
| Speed: |
Max. 269 km/h, cruise 220 km/h
[5] |
| Perfor.: |
Range 656 km, hover ceiling: 3110 m |
Weight:
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Empty 10578 kg, max gross 24494 kg,
useful
load 13916 kg, slung forward/
aft hooks, 9072 kg, centre, 12701 kg |
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CH-147Ds have a crew of five – pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer (doubling as a gunner) plus two other
gunners. CF Chinooks' countermeasures include missile warning sensors mounted in pairs on nose, tail, and both
rotor pylons; infrared decoy flare dispensers on rear fuselage, two beneath each engine exhaust pipe, beneath each
intake (with EAPS dust covers to minimize foreign object injestion), plus CBT ( Centre Body Tailpipes) to
reduce exhaust signature. [7] Of course, none of that protects from small arms fire. One CH-147D was lost to
Taliban ground fire. It was later replaced by another leased US Army Chinook (but no lease details
have been given). [8] In early Feb 2011, DND announced that the CH-147Ds were for sale but there were no
takers.
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[1] See Bill Walker's Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers
for a listing of CH-147C Chinook airframes and their individual histories.
[2] On this ' CH-147F+ ', DND has been criticized by industry for constantly shifting requirements and by
analysts for "platinum plating". When a $1.2B contract with Boeing was finally announced
on 10 Aug 2009, the total number of new airframes had dropped from 16 to 15.
[3] The CH-147Ds will be fully operational in Feb 2009 but these helicopters are already flying out of
KAF. The Chinooks operate beside eight CH-146 Griffon utility helicopters and six leased
Russian Mil Mi-8T transport helicopters operated on behalf of Skylink International. The original purchase price
for the six CH-47Ds was $252M, that number was later revised upwards to $282M. No price was been released for the
lease of an additional in-country US Army CH-47D to replace the CF CH-147D lost at Armarah, Panjwaii District, in
August of 2010.
[4] That is the total length of the helicopter including the discs of both rotors turning. The actual rotor
diameter for the CH-147D is 18.3 m.
[5] Such perfomance numbers are based on an International Standard Atmosphere (ISA), ie: average sea level
pressure and temperature in a temperate climate. Kandahar conditions, especially during summer, are anything but
average. Performance out of KAF will be degraded.
[6] The CH-147D is armed with US 7.62mm M240H spade-grip machineguns, a direct equivalent of the CF's C6 GPMG.
The M240H retains its bipod for emergency dismounted use. Only 4 M240Hs were included in the original FMS notice for the CH-47Ds. It may be that the US machineguns are being
supplemented by pintle-mount C6s. Optional future defensive armament for CH-147Ds include the M134 Minigun.
[7] The IR signature reducing Centre Body Tailpipe is a product of Ottawa-based WR Davis Engineering (which
supplies a similar system for the CH-146 Griffon). The EAPS dust filters, or Centrisep Engine
Air Particle Separator system, is a product of Florida-based Pall Corp.
[8] In August 2010, that CH-147D with five crew and 15 troops on board was lost when hit by Taliban small
arms fire while flying over the Panjwaii district. That Chinook flew on to make a "heavy landing" at
Armarah, 20 km SW of Kandahar, and burned out on the ground. On 16 May 2011, another
CH-147D Chinook rolled on landing in a Panjwaii riverbed. Four CF
personnel were injured in its "hard landing".
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Photo Credits – CH-147D Chinook side view and C6 machinegun: Stephen Priestley,
centre right: CTV, others: Canadian Forces/DND.
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The six CH-147Ds form part of the Canadian Helicopter Force (Afghanistan) which, in turn, is a unit of the CF's new
Air Wing Kandahar (stood up 6 December 2008). These helicopters were transferred directly from the US Army at
Bagram AB. The CH-147D's
armament is like most US 'Hooks' – pintle mounted 7.62mm machineguns in forward port cabin
window, starboard crew door, and on the open rear ramp door (left). [6]
