A contract worth £1.4 billion has been agreed for the purchase of 14 new Chinook aircraft over the next 10 years.

UPDATE – This article has been corrected and the ‘Chinook’ specifcations section has been removed, a user informed us via e-mail that the specifications for the aircraft are for a different variant.

The helicopter can operate in a diverse range of environments, from the desert to the arctic, and transport up to 55 personnel or ten tonnes of cargo say the Royal Air Force in a news release.

With a top speed of 300 kilometres per hour, the new H-47(ER) aircraft will have a range of new capabilities, including:

  • advanced digital cockpit
  • modernised airframe to increase stability and improve survivability
  • digital automatic flight control system to allow pilots to hover in areas of limited visibility

The 14 aircraft will be purchased from the US via a Foreign Military Sales agreement and includes development and manufacture over the next decade.

Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2026. The new helicopters will be based at RAF Odiham, the home of the Chinook fleet.

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, was quoted as saying:

“From assisting emergency repairs to UK flood defences, providing vital logistics support during COVID-19 to its war-fighting role on Afghan battlefields, the Chinook has been the workhorse of the Armed Forces for over 40 years. The cutting edge H-47 (ER) will be at the forefront of our specialist requirements in dealing with threats and logistic support. Our £1.4 billion investment will mean we will be one of very few air forces with this capability.”

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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100 COMMENTS

    • Presumably includes a load of spares and supporting services. Whilst the Chinnoks capabilities are appreciated, we seem to just go on buying more…. its about time we fully appreciated the unique capabilities of the MV22 Osprey and bought a batch! A combined force of Chinooks and Ospreys would give us a far greater and better capability across the board.

        • That would be nice, but unlikely right now. However, the extended range of the Osprey would at least enable one of the QEs to operate in a semi LPH role.

          • To be honest I am struggling to understand why we would buy Osprey for special forces insertion. My own googling says this latest Chinook can carry twice as many troops the same distance, albeit a little slower. The internal cargo dimensions of Chinook are larger both length and width. And in vertical lift the Chinook also can lift a greater payload. Happy to learn here. Am I missing something?

          • US Special forces based at RAF Mildenhall undertake missions around the world including hostage rescue. SP forces parachute in from MC130s do the business and exit very quickly in CV22 Ospreys flying extremely low at speed. The key issue is range and speed, 200 miles is a big distance and greatly assists with forward basing, plus of course the slower you fly, the greater the opportunity for the bad guys to target and destroy you.
            Range and speed in Special Ops is critical, the Chinook is a heavy lift helicopter, great at lifting weights and transporting troops across battlefields over which the good guys have air superiority, and I’m not knocking it. But it just can’t match the ability to land vertically then take off and fly at speed like a conventional aircraft.
            Plus of course response times. A CV22 can transport SP responding to a terrorist threat far more quickly. Stirling Lines in Wales to central London in 30 minutes, no other aircraft can match that.
            It depends on whether or not that capability is wanted.

          • Cheers for the operational insight. I can see the V22 has an edge on speed. I’m not qualified to have an opinion on its value. Be interested to see how special forces capabilities things work out without the C130s and hopefully with A400 parachuting and longer range Chinooks.

          • If they don’t solve the problem of parachuting out of the A400 and it’s high time that particular digit was extracted, then the paras will be jumping out of the Globemasters. Could be worse. No paras!!

          • Good news certainly but now with the C130J’s on the way out, the MOD can get on with certification of the A400’s. Watch this space!

        • That would be tricky Captain, where would we put a new ocean?

          The best we could manage is a large ‘ish’ inland sea, I would certainly put forward Swindon as a great place to position it though…..

      • Paul, Don’t forget the massive increase in the logistical costs associated with Ospreys would probably make them unaffordable.
        I think we are better off waiting for a second generation tilt rotor system coming to market, then see what benefits they offer.

      • Aye let’s introduce another type that will require all the necessary infrastructure changes that would about double the cost for an aircraft that will offer negligible benefits

        • Compare the performance characteristics of both then say the MV22 offers negligible benefits. It simply outclasses the Chinook and the far greater range and speed would greatly enhance UK capabilities.

          • It has 200 miles more range, that is hardly far greater, it is a maintenance nightmare, I would hardly call that enhancing, it’s cost per flight hour is astronomical in comparison to the Chinook, It carries about half the tonnage and has an unprecedented ability to fall out of the sky, yeah it’s faster, but so what?

          • Don’t forget the V22 Osprey was designed to replace the CH46 Sea Knight, not the Chinook.

          • But if you wanted that Range and to insert the numbers wouldnt you use a Herc or an A400m. PERFORMANCE costs money and Osprey is only just living upto its development cost.

        • Thats 2.1 billion GDP for 17 x Ospreys including all support services as opposed to 1.4 billion for 14 Chinooks, bearing in mind most support services are already in place. Bearing in mind the enhanced capabilities offered by the MV/CV22, specially to the RN, i would say the additional cost was more than worth it.

          • The New Chinook has very little in common with RAFs current airframes, its a 40-year programme. and the RAF are happy to pay for this type. Where would the Osprey Live, RN more interested in the Bell rotary craft. Another nail in its coffin for the Navy/Army was its to fast for the attack helicopters to keep up with. so it goes in undefended. something even the USMC doesnt like.

      • V22 unit cost was restrictive, as the unit cost was very high and then parts and service life. for a small number of units, the original paper was costed for 20 airframes. @ $750.000 dollars per unit with an additional $750.000 service costs over their lifetime. RAF wanted the Navy to pay for them but as a Transport, they Come under The RAF Like the Chinook. Navy couldn’t see any benefits in unit cost, when you compare you can have say 8 BlackHawks for the cost of One V22. a great bit of kit but to deliver the SF is a luxury. RAF dumped Merlin as it was too large for their needs so V22s were never going to get approved. Compared to the New Chinook £100m a pop seems value for money over the next 40 years.

        • Per deal done with the Japanese, 17 x MV22 with support services would be 2.1 billion as opposed to 1.4 for 14 x Chinooks. Given the greatly enhanced capabilities it offers, its worth it. In IRAQ it was the only rotary asset that could cross the country without a fuel pit stop. With others men and kit had to be sent out to destinations in order to facilitate ground refuelling. Yes, in theory it should live with the RN, it would actually give a QE the ability to launch an aerial assault by the Royal Marines whilst operating in deep water, but I woukd bet it woukd be in demand by all 3 services.

      • 50/50 split over the lifespan of the program unit cost/service cost it ensures the MOD spends its Money once and not 30 times

    • No. I believe the fly away cost is 35 million, half the fly away cost of an osprey. Well… so says Wiki. I am happy to be corrected.

      I’m guessing to total cost is the usual training and spares. There were of course the 6 or 8 (?) ones bought for SF use which cost an eyewatering amount and never worked as intended.

      I’ve seen Chinooks do acrobatics. Amazing.

      • I read the Wiki article to see what the cost’s were but I think the figures quoted are from quite a while back, so I’m guessing maybe 60 million each ? purely a guess though. The Aerobatics displays are incredible especially with two of them…. They seem to defy all laws of Gravity.

        • Boeing were considerably concerned on how we fly the Chinook, especially during air displays and fighter evasion. The aerobatics have been slowed down and tamed. if you can find a video of a Chinook’s air display 10 years ago and compare it to a much newer one. You’ll see a massive difference.

      • Ive been in a Chinook doing aerobatics over Lough Neagh with the ramp door down and the Loadie weightless in mid air. All to put the sh*ts up us newbies in province….😂

    • Unbelievable price per unit! Seriously? Yes, it had better come with a shitload of spares for that. Daylight robbery! Maybe we can sell half a dozen of the old ones to the French, our glorious allies, to save them using ours in Africa now. Say £25m a pop?

  2. I think these are the UK equivalent of the MH-47 model ordered by US special forces. They have the long range fuel tanks.

    • I don’t think squadron numbers will increase so I would guess supplementary aircraft, but I don’t mind being wrong…

    • A bit of both I think, we already operate a sizable Chinook fleet, but replacing the early examples with new machines, increases availability and capability.

    • 9 are being retired – it was stated in the recent Command paper that they would go and be replaced by 14 new ones. An uplift in numbers! (pun intended).

    • Replacing older ones, like “BN”

      The RAF does not have the people or squadrons to operate the fleet we have ( around 60 ) so adding more makes no sense.

      • Indeed, Bravo November has long been earmarked for the RAF Museum by all accounts. I hope she goes to Cosford rather than Hendon as the latter is rather a dark hole and already has a fake BN display.

        • That aircraft was a US Army helicopter. If you catch the fuselage in the right light you can still US Army writing under the paint.

          • Once the RAF Museum takes possession of ZA718 the actual ‘Bravo November’ it would be nice if 83-24104 was restored to her Vietnam War colours, she is a combat veteran herself and received small arms damage when operating with the 180th Aviation Company.

  4. Are these block II with the new blades & uprated engines or have we bought the last of the old runout model?

  5. Great news.

    But first in 2026, and reductions I assume first. And for the life of me how are they so expensive?

    I appreciate the contract will include spares, support, and so on.

    • Was thinking the same the price is eye watering, we must also have a ton of spares laid about from decades of using them!?

      • Or maybe not.

        One of the ways budgets were trimmed post 2010 was not buying stocks of spares…….maybe this is fixing that too?

    • Hi Daniele. I tried to find the purchase price of the Wessex’s from the 60’s to compare but could not trace online. They were probably about 100 000 pounds a piece if that!! Inflation and technology for you. btw I see your weather in the UK is not the best at present. We are in early WINTER😄-Google Durban 10 day forecast-Saturday it will hit 30 degrees! one of the compensations for our other troubles in South Africa!
      Cheers my friend

    • Bloomberg reports that the contract includes engines ( you would hope so!) machine guns, radar and missile jamming systems. Even so, the price looks very high compared with other recent sales. Delivery has also been slowed compared with original plans.
      The delay, like that of F35 delivery and the snail like pace of Boxer and Ajax deliveries, confirm just how big the shortfall in the equipment budget had become.

  6. I read of our current fleet 38 are being upgraded to latest HC6A so the additional 14 looks like the fleet will settle at 52. This seems a more than adequate number given the critical point made already by the D man that we don’t have the man power to increase squadron numbers.

    All in all I’d say no bad ,good news

    👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

    • Your figures don’t seem to account for the 8 SF HC5 (upgraded HC3). Add the 38 HC6A you mention and the 14 future airframes and the total becomes 60, not 52.

      • Well that’s even better then , I wasn’t sure if the 8 that sat around for years in a hanger that were part of a ballsed up mod job were included in the 38 or separate?. But if your telling me I didn’t include them then happy days 60 is the magic number 👍🏻

        🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

        • Yes, they were the Mk3s. Which were Model Ds with fat tanks. We really wanted the SF Model E, but couldn’t afford it, so went for the Aldi special.

          After all the fixes and upgrades, they are being used operationally in Mali, where the additional range the “fat tanks” provide is really helpful.

  7. It puts the cost of upgrading the Challengers into perspective!!
    I fully agree with the person who said we should by buying Ospreys !!

    • Personally I don’t get buying Ospreys really I’d Rather leave them to the US and just how much would they cost anyway ?

  8. Can we flog the old ones to the French who rely on us for lift?

    The Baltic States could do with this asset as well.

  9. Great news. Chinooks are a real feather in our cap that sets us head and shoulders above our contemporaries

      • Seems trivial until you look at the French being unable to move their heavy materiel around the battlefield in Mali due to their lack of heavy lift capability

        • Yes It’s been a serious problem for them that’s for sure. I believe our mix of Merlin, Chinook, Puma and to a degree Wildcat Helicopters and the C130, C17 and Atlas are a cracking combination. Would be nice to add to the numbers though, as always !

  10. Nearly been goosed by a Chinook. Cloud base is really low and hammering with rain, a Chinook flying by the seat of its pants burst over the top of the houses at the end of my village. Never seen one that low that wasn’t coming in to land….impressive machine!

    • They are certainly impressive close up, the platform in the North Sea I worked on was often used by the military for training. Chinooks coming in skimming the sea, then flying almost vertical to reach the helideck, hovering over the helideck and special forces abseiling to the deck. It was always impressive to watch and gave us something to break up a mundane day.

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  11. The latest reporting is that an additional 9 Chinooks will also be retired taking the overall fleet down to 51.

    As fantastically useful as Chinooks are it does seem odd to me that we’re spending that much money on keeping a fairly large fleet in operation.

    We’re post Afghanistan with little appetite to embark on that kind of prolonged and intense deployment again. Does the RAF need 50+ cabs to equip it’s 3 squadrons when other branches of the service will struggle to meet commitments with just 3 Wedgetail and 9 Poseidon (for example!).

    • Well if 18 and 27 have around a dozen each and 7 has probably more than 12 given the SFF, plus half dozen in the OCU ( 28 sqn ) that is already 46. Add those in maintenance, reserve, or on trials that number seems not unreasonable.

      • Are there any sources to confirm the 3 squadrons have 12+ Chinooks? 12 still seems to be the rouge benchmark for the fast jet squadrons but the transport and ISTAR units all operate with less and I had it in my head that the Chinook and Puma ones operate with something like 8 apiece.

        There’s a couple permanently stationed in The Falklands but I doubt the OCU has as many as 6.

        • Morning.

          There are HMG assets reports, whether they detail exact squadron numbers I’m uncertain. My info came from the usual books, some dated admittedly.

          Just looked at the database I keep on orbats and infrastructure, and it muddies the waters further in that my latest entries on Chinook force numbers ( don’t even remember when I entered the figures ) gives
          7 Sqn 11.
          18 Sqn 10.
          27 Sqn 9.
          28 Sqn 6.

          I thought the MPA Chinooks were withdrawn a few years ago and only contractor helis down there now.

          The plot thickens!

          I’m just pleased the RAF has a decent number.

          • Thanks for that. I stand corrected!

            The single remaining Chinook was withdrawn from MPA around 2007 when Afghanistan was heating up but 2 were deployed back down there a few years ago now, I think off the back of SAR being privatised leaving no RAF helicopters in residence.

            Still means there’s approximately 38 air-frames active so a dozen spares for a total fleet of 50 sounds about right…..which is pretty much what they are aiming for!

          • You don’t stand corrected mate, my data might well be cobblers! I update it from various sources and it may well be out of date or plain wrong. Would be interesting to know for sure myself.

            Whatever, we have a decent number of this asset at least.

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