20.01.2005, 15:29
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Zitat:Army to Purchase New Chinooks, Upgrade Fleet
WASHINGTON --- All of the Army's CH-47 Chinooks will be upgraded to the new CH-47F models by 2018 as the result of a partnership between the service and Boeing, the helicopter's manufacturer.
The Army will buy 55 new CH-47F models, have 397 helicopters remanufactured into CH-47Fs, and have 61 remanufactured to the CH47G used by Special Forces units. Total procurement costs through 2018 will be $11.4 billion.
In a media round table Jan. 12, Col. William T. Crosby, project manager Cargo Helicopter, said the effort will keep the Chinook in the air even longer than the U.S. Air Force's B-52 bomber.
When the helicopters are remanufactured, they will be rebuilt from the ground up. The Chinooks will receive recapitalized depot-level repair components that are nearly “zero hour” or new. The aircraft will receive new airframes.
The new version of the Chinook features a modern “glass cockpit” avionics suite, in which computer displays replace the more traditional “steam gauges” seen on traditional control panels. Crosby said the CH-47s Common Avionics Architecture System is based on the MH-47G common core. The UH-60M program plans to use the same system
“The software is different, but when you plug in the hardware, it checks to see which aircraft its in and installs the right software,” Crosby said. “This is part of the Common Avionics Architecture System we've been working on.”
Crosby said research showed that it was less expensive to replace the entire fuselage than to rebuild the 40-year-old airframes currently in service. Many of the new airframes interior formers and load bearing members are machined in one piece, much stronger than those used in the original airframes, which were built of numerous pieces riveted together. Crosby said the changes amount to a 50 to 60 percent reduction in part numbers for some components.
The upshot of these changes was a reduction in the price of a new helicopter from the $42 million to $30 million. The price for remanufactured helicopters is expected to be slightly lower than $30 million, but is still being negotiated. Crosby said the lower cost became possible when the Army agreed to fund non-recurring costs at a higher rate.
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