Germany will buy 60 Chinooks from America: NATO will be the second most powerful country with military helicopter fleet, deal for 72.75 thousand crores.

Germany will have the second largest military helicopter fleet in NATO. Last month, Germany announced the purchase of 60 Chinook helicopters, the world’s fastest. On Friday, Germany’s Air Force Chief Ingo Gerhartz told that he is buying this helicopter from Boeing Company for 72.75 thousand crores.

With this, Germany will become the country with the largest number of military helicopters in NATO after America. Of these, 50 helicopters will be stationed at the Holzdorf site in East Germany. 1 thousand extra soldiers will also be appointed here. Gerhartz said – The Schoenewalde site will play an important role for the Airforce, the entire Bundeswehr Armed Forces and the security of Germany.

America has 400 Chinook helicopters
The UK’s Royal Air Force is currently the second largest Chinook operator, but the number of airframes in its fleet is due to drop from 60 to 51 soon. And South Korea is the third largest operator. He has 43 aircraft. America has the maximum number of Chinook helicopters, their number is 400. Also, it is the country with the largest number of military helicopters among NATO countries.

Chinook will not be made after 2027:
Manufacturing of the CH-47F Block-I Chinook helicopter is going to stop after 2027. However, work on upgrading the Chinook through the H-47 Block-II program will continue. In August last year, the US Army had grounded its entire fleet of CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

The US Army had told that there were cases of fire due to fuel leak in some Chinook helicopters. After this this step was taken.

Why are Chinook helicopters special for the US Army?
The twin-engine Chinook helicopter has been a staple of the US military’s helicopter fleet for the past 60 years. It was inducted into the US Army in 1962 during the Vietnam War. The US had included it in almost all its major military operations including Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf countries. It has been upgraded significantly since then.

When did the Indian Army buy Chinook helicopters?
In September 2015, India had signed an agreement for the purchase of 15 Chinook and 22 Apache helicopters from the US for $ 3 billion, which is about Rs 24,000 crore. India received the first batch of CH-47F helicopters in 2019. In March 2020, Boeing completed the delivery of Chinook helicopters. India has a total of 15 Chinook helicopters.

It was inducted into the Indian Air Force in March 2019 at a ceremony held in Chandigarh. It has one unit in Chandigarh, while one unit is in Mohanbari airbase in Assam.

What are Chinook helicopters?

Chinooks are heavy-lift, multi-role helicopters. They are also used for carrying troops, artillery, equipment and fuel and in disaster rescue operations.
Both Regular and Special Army forces use Chinook. It is named after the Chinook native people of Oregon and Washington State in the US.

It is made by the American company Boeing. Its engine is manufactured by Honeywell International Inc.
Chinook is considered to be the fastest military helicopter in the world, with a maximum speed of 315 kilometers per hour.
Initially the Chinook was designed to carry 36 passengers, but during the Vietnam War a single Chinook carried 147 people.

Now Chinook can carry about 50 people and weight up to 10 tonnes, ie about 10 thousand kg.
According to Boeing, more than 19 countries of the world are using Chinook including India and America. America and Britain are the most used countries of Chinook.