Royal Netherlands Air Force takes delivery of first CH-47F Chinook

Netherlands new Chinook helicopter
New RNLAF CH-47F Chinook helicopter conducts first mission.

On Wednesday April 14th 2021, the first of the new CH-47F Chinooks of the Dutch Royal Air Force (“Koninklijke Luchtmacht”) was delivered to the Duct Defense Helicopter Command (“Defensie Helikopter Commando”) at Gilze-Rijen AB (ICAO:EHGR). Due to Corona/Covid, the media moment was very limited.

One week later, on Thursday April 22nd 2021, the first official mission of the new Chinook helicopter was flown and Chinook CH-47F with registration D-427 flew in the GLV5 low-flying area, close to Eindhoven AB (GLV5=”Gebied voor LaagVliegen” #5) during the afternoon.

Background

In 2015, the Dutch Air Force decided to buy 14 new CH-47F helicopters, as the CH-47D models were reaching their end-of-life after 25 years in service. The 6 existing CH-47F helicopters will be upgraded to the same CH-47F MYII CAAS version.

CH-47F is officially known as “CH-47F MYII CAAS” (MYII= Multi Year batch, CAAS=Common Avionics Architecture System)) and this helicopter is more or less the same as the US Army models. With only some minor Dutch modifications, compatibility with future US Army upgrade packages remains possible.

15 CH-47F helicopters will be flown operationally from Gilze-Rijen AB and 5 CH-47F helicopters will be used in the USA at Fort Hood Army Base for training and instruction purposes.

Netherlands new Chinook helicopter

Netherlands new Chinook helicopter

Netherlands new Chinook helicopter
 
Photos and text: Joris van Boven and Alex van Noije

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