RIDLEY TOWNSHIP, Pa., 23 Aug. 2011. The Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) Defense, Space & Security segment in Ridley Township, Pa., outside Philadelphia will provide 14 new CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift, twin-rotor helicopters to the British Royal Air Force (RAF) under terms of a $1.64 billion contract announced Monday from the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) in London.The purchase, which will expand the RAF's fleet of Chinook helicopters to 60, is part of a MOD effort to modernize its military helicopter forces. Boeing will build the new heavy-lift helicopters at the company's renovated Ridley Township, Pa., facility near Philadelphia, and should be delivered to British forces from 2013 through 2015, Boeing officials say.The CH-47 Mk-6 Chinook has a new, machined monolithic airframe with British military-specific avionics, forward-looking infrared sensors, a rescue hoist, aircraft defensive systems, and interoperable communications and navigation equipment.
The RAF has operated Chinooks for more than 30 years in every major NATO engagement and on virtually every continent, Boeing officials say. The RAF uses its Chinooks for troop transport, air assault, and medical evacuation missions.
For more information contact Boeing Defense, Space & Security online at www.boeing.com/bds.
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