Yıldırım: Eastern Anatolia Space Observatory to be opened next year
September 1, 2020
India’s 2nd Nuclear Ballistic Submarine Waits for The End Of 2020
September 3, 2020US Special Operations Command gets first brand-new Chinook variant
U.S. Special Operations Command has taken receipt of its first MH-47G Block II Chinook from Boeing on time, according to a Sept. 1 company statement.
A special operations Chinook weighs roughly 54,000 pounds while a conventional Chinook weighs 50,000 pounds.
The upgrades in the Block II version include newly designed rotor blades, major changes to the drive system and other improvements like non-segmented fuel cells.
Boeing produced three aircraft for flight tests, but the helicopter SOCOM has received is the first production-grade aircraft to come off the line to be used in operational missions. Boeing is on contract to deliver 23 more MH-47Gs, after minting a deal with SOCOM at the end of July.
While the Army originally planned to buy 542 Bock II Chinooks — 473 “F” models and 69 “G” models — the service decided to cut the planned acquisition in its fiscal 2020 budget request with plans to purchase only G models for special operations.
