01 September 2014

News Story: (CH-47F) Chopper For Oz

CH-47F Chinook (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

August 30, 2014: Much to the relief of Australian infantry and special operations troops, the government recently signed contracts to construct maintenance and support facilities for the seven CH-47F transport helicopters that were ordered in 2010. That order became subject to cancellation as Australian troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan and military budgets were threatened with cuts.

This came after a period of rapid expansion of the Australian helicopters transport fleet. During nearly a decade of operations in Afghanistan the army expanded its CH-47D force to eight although one was lost to a crash in Afghanistan. The first CH-47Ds arrived in 1995 and two more were hurriedly obtained from the U.S. Army in 2012 to replace the one lost and increase the CH-47D force to seven. These two CH-47Ds were taken from U.S. Army stocks in order to assure quick delivery.

Read the full story at StrategyPage