- Introduction & Background
Naming helicopters after Indian tribes or chiefs is a U.S. Army tradition. The CH-47 helicopter is named after the Chinook tribe of the Pacific Northwest Indians in Washington and Oregon. Boeing acquired Vertol in 1960, the largest independent manufacturer of helicopters at the time.
The company focuses on the design and production of twin-propeller helicopters. Another representative product of the company is the CH-46 SeaKnight, also known as the famous Sea Knight. Due to the high carrying capacity of the Sea Knight, it could put equipment and soldiers into the battlefield in a short time, and at the same time, it could also evacuate injured soldiers on the battlefield. Therefore, it occupied a very important position in the U.S. Navy at that time. Although the Navy The design and application of Knight has achieved unprecedented success.
However, the U.S. Army is still looking for a heavy-duty helicopter with greater carrying capacity and endurance, and has ordered a continuation version of the CH-46, which is the CH-47A Chinook helicopter that first made its debut during the Vietnam War. After nearly half a century of development, the MH-47G is now the most powerful model in the Chinook series helicopters, also known as the special operations type. It has the most advanced navigation and other electronic equipment of the modern CH-47F model, but is different from the The biggest difference between other sister models is that this particular helicopter has combat capabilities to facilitate troops to perform night and low-altitude flying missions.
The current MH-47G formation is mainly used by special forces commanded by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) to perform various infiltration, evacuation and supply tasks.