Since the 1980s, Boeing and Kawasaki delivered more than one hundred Chinooks to the JSDF. The helicopters were manufactured through one of the longest lasting and most successful license manufacturing programmes in Japan.
´This award strengthens our decades-long relationship with KHI and provides critical capability improvements that will keep the Japan Self-Defence Forces operating heavy-lift aircraft for decades to come,´ said Heather McBryan, vice president and program manager, Boeing Cargo Programs. ´The Block II configuration and digital flight controls will modernize and significantly improve Japan’s helicopter transport capabilities by improving aircraft stability, safety, and efficiency.´
The Block II Chinook Extended Range represents the next generation of world known heavy-lift, multi-mission helicopter. The rotorcraft is equipped with an advanced digital cockpit, reinforced airframe and enhanced fuel tanks.
Japan will be the fourth country, after the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, to receive this variant of the Chinook helicopter.
Cover photo: Boeing CH-47F Chinook Block II. All photos and quotations © Boeing. Information from The Boeing Company press releases were used.
