Boeing has been awarded a $42 million contract modification for four new Chinook helicopters for U.S. Special Operations Command, the Department of Defense said in a release.
“Boeing Co., Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a $42,835,847 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification under delivery order H92241-18-F-0022-P00002 for four new build MH-47G rotary wing aircrafts,” the Thursday, November 1 release said.
The contract modification will satisfy an “urgent need” to sustain U.S. Special Operations Forces heavy assault, rotary wing aircraft, the release added.
The MH-47G is the special operations variant of Boeing’s CH-47 Chinook multi-role, heavy-lift helicopter used by the U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command.
It is is used in heavy-lift missions such as troop, weapons, vehicles and other equipment transportation, as well as civil and humanitarian relief missions. It can conduct long-range missions at a low level and in adverse weather conditions during the day and at night.
The helicopter is armed with two M134 7.62mm electrically operated, air-cooled mini guns and two M240 7.62mm belt-fed machine guns mounted on either side of the fuselage.
The U.S. Army has 69 of special operations Chinooks, and the special operations forces operates 36 MH-47D and MH-47E aircraft that are being upgraded to the G variant. The MH-47 model is not exported, but Boeing is also developing a Block II configuration for the CH-47F variant.
On July 11, Boeing was awarded a $131 million modification to another Chinook contract to provide four Block II MH-47G aircraft to the Army. The completion date on that order is June 29, 2020.
Saudi Arabia is set to buy eight of the helicopters from Boeing under a $26 million contract modification announced in May. In April, the U.S. Department of State approved a possible $1.3 billion sale of 17 CH-47F Chinooks to Spain with unique modifications.
