On 14 April 2021, the first of the new CH-47F Chinooks of the Dutch Royal Air Force (“Koninklijke Luchtmacht”) was delivered to the ‘Defensie Helikopter Commando’ at Gilze-Rijen AB. Due to Corona/Covid, the media moment was very limited. One week later, on 22 April 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. In 2015, the Dutch Air Force decided to buy 14 new CH-47F helicopters since its CH-47D models were reaching their retirement period after completing 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’s 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.
Photos and text: Joris van Boven and Alex van Noije