sudhir007
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..:: India Strategic ::. Air Force: Boeing bullish on Chinook for Indian heavy lift tender
New Delhi. With India moving ahead in the procurement path, all eyes are on the heavy lift helicopter tender which should be seeing the light of the day in the very near future. Boeings Chinook the only helicopter which can float on water is in the fray for this requirement of the Indian Air force and waiting patiently for the decision.
Our helicopter fits perfectly with the requirement of multi-terrain operations in India. We have completed the technical part and offsets are being evaluated The requirement is for 15 Chinooks. It is ideally suited for Indias vast distances, austere environments and high altitudes and offers India heavy-lift and high-altitude transportation for a multiple of uses. The aircraft has been battle-tested in diverse extreme conditions throughout the world, and has proven capability to operate in the wide range of conditions that typify the Indian subcontinent, said Wesley Spreen, Campaign Manager in International Business Development at Boeing Mobility Systems in an exclusive interview to India Strategic.
The contract requires that Indian pilots be trained at our facility in Philadelphia. It will be a transition training for a month or so. Maintenance training will also be held at the same location abut will last longer. We have provided some guarantees about availability of spares and failure rates. We have a very large logistics supply system in the world. We want good offset partners in India. We are looking for technical capability, quality and competitive pricing, he added.
Improved and more powerful versions of the CH-47 have been developed since the helicopter entered service. The US Armys first major design leap was the now-common CH-47D, which entered service in 1982. Improvements from the CH-47C included upgraded engines, composite rotor blades, a redesigned cockpit to reduce pilot workload, improved and redundant electrical systems, an advanced flight control system and improved avionics. The latest mainstream generation is the CH-47F, which features several major upgrades to reduce maintenance, digitized flight controls, and is powered by two 4,733-horsepower Honeywell engines.
All over the world, the CH-47 Chinook is known as the platform of choice for high-altitude, vertical-lift operations. The Chinooks tandem rotor configuration, which allows all of the engines power to be directed to lift, and its ability to lift very large loads at altitude, are just two of reasons why the Chinook holds this distinction. The fact that it can lift a 105mm Howitzer cannon weighing 1,905kg at an altitude of 6,096m, is validation of that designation. We dont furnish the guns but the provision for gun mounts is given in the chopper. At high altitude Chinook is the best in the world. It can lift one ton load at 20,000 feet. It is more than any other chopper can. It has 13 tonnes load capacity at sea level, he stated.
Wes informed that the contract requires that Indian pilots be trained at their facility in Philadelphia. It will be a transition training for a month or so. Maintenance training will also be held at the same location but will last longer.
Chinook can also be used for natural calamities but we dont build one for civil certification. We used to earlier but it is no longer being made. As FAA rules were different, the chopper was a little different from the military version. Old civil ones are still in use. Occasionally we approached by potential customers. 10 choppers are still flying for civilian purposes7 in US and 3 in Taiwan, informed Spreen.
A commercial model of the Chinook, the Boeing-Vertol Model 234, is used worldwide for logging, construction, fighting forest fires, and supporting petroleum extraction operations. On 15 December 2006, the Columbia Helicopters company of the Salem, Oregon, metropolitan area, purchased the Type Certificate of the Model 234 from Boeing. The Chinook has also been licensed to be built by companies outside of the United States, such as Elicotteri Meridionali (now AgustaWestland) in Italy, Kawasaki in Japan.
800 military choppers are in operation in more than 16 countries world over.
Boeing has also leased a Chinook to Papua New Guinea recently. So leasing to smaller countries who cannot bare the purchase costs is also a good business proposition for the company.
Things seem to be moving ahead in India. The Government of India needs to take its time. Chinook offered to India has some enhancements. IAF has asked for some additional safety features. Collision avoidance system is what India wants.We are happy with the way our customer is handling it. We know that the customer will make the right decision for India. I hope I will be working here for the next ten years for the Chinook programme, said Spreen optimistically.
New Delhi. With India moving ahead in the procurement path, all eyes are on the heavy lift helicopter tender which should be seeing the light of the day in the very near future. Boeings Chinook the only helicopter which can float on water is in the fray for this requirement of the Indian Air force and waiting patiently for the decision.
Our helicopter fits perfectly with the requirement of multi-terrain operations in India. We have completed the technical part and offsets are being evaluated The requirement is for 15 Chinooks. It is ideally suited for Indias vast distances, austere environments and high altitudes and offers India heavy-lift and high-altitude transportation for a multiple of uses. The aircraft has been battle-tested in diverse extreme conditions throughout the world, and has proven capability to operate in the wide range of conditions that typify the Indian subcontinent, said Wesley Spreen, Campaign Manager in International Business Development at Boeing Mobility Systems in an exclusive interview to India Strategic.
The contract requires that Indian pilots be trained at our facility in Philadelphia. It will be a transition training for a month or so. Maintenance training will also be held at the same location abut will last longer. We have provided some guarantees about availability of spares and failure rates. We have a very large logistics supply system in the world. We want good offset partners in India. We are looking for technical capability, quality and competitive pricing, he added.
Improved and more powerful versions of the CH-47 have been developed since the helicopter entered service. The US Armys first major design leap was the now-common CH-47D, which entered service in 1982. Improvements from the CH-47C included upgraded engines, composite rotor blades, a redesigned cockpit to reduce pilot workload, improved and redundant electrical systems, an advanced flight control system and improved avionics. The latest mainstream generation is the CH-47F, which features several major upgrades to reduce maintenance, digitized flight controls, and is powered by two 4,733-horsepower Honeywell engines.
All over the world, the CH-47 Chinook is known as the platform of choice for high-altitude, vertical-lift operations. The Chinooks tandem rotor configuration, which allows all of the engines power to be directed to lift, and its ability to lift very large loads at altitude, are just two of reasons why the Chinook holds this distinction. The fact that it can lift a 105mm Howitzer cannon weighing 1,905kg at an altitude of 6,096m, is validation of that designation. We dont furnish the guns but the provision for gun mounts is given in the chopper. At high altitude Chinook is the best in the world. It can lift one ton load at 20,000 feet. It is more than any other chopper can. It has 13 tonnes load capacity at sea level, he stated.
Wes informed that the contract requires that Indian pilots be trained at their facility in Philadelphia. It will be a transition training for a month or so. Maintenance training will also be held at the same location but will last longer.
Chinook can also be used for natural calamities but we dont build one for civil certification. We used to earlier but it is no longer being made. As FAA rules were different, the chopper was a little different from the military version. Old civil ones are still in use. Occasionally we approached by potential customers. 10 choppers are still flying for civilian purposes7 in US and 3 in Taiwan, informed Spreen.
A commercial model of the Chinook, the Boeing-Vertol Model 234, is used worldwide for logging, construction, fighting forest fires, and supporting petroleum extraction operations. On 15 December 2006, the Columbia Helicopters company of the Salem, Oregon, metropolitan area, purchased the Type Certificate of the Model 234 from Boeing. The Chinook has also been licensed to be built by companies outside of the United States, such as Elicotteri Meridionali (now AgustaWestland) in Italy, Kawasaki in Japan.
800 military choppers are in operation in more than 16 countries world over.
Boeing has also leased a Chinook to Papua New Guinea recently. So leasing to smaller countries who cannot bare the purchase costs is also a good business proposition for the company.
Things seem to be moving ahead in India. The Government of India needs to take its time. Chinook offered to India has some enhancements. IAF has asked for some additional safety features. Collision avoidance system is what India wants.We are happy with the way our customer is handling it. We know that the customer will make the right decision for India. I hope I will be working here for the next ten years for the Chinook programme, said Spreen optimistically.
