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A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook carrying a vehicle on a sling during an exercise

Program · United States · U.S. Army

CH-47 Chinook

Tandem-rotor heavy-lift helicopter for cargo and troop transport.

Updated
ProductionU.S. Army

Timeline3

  1. First flightConfirmed

    YCH-1B Chinook prototype first flight

  2. MilestoneConfirmed

    First YHC-1B prototype rolled out

    Build B001, serial 59-04982, rolled out. This aircraft subsequently served as a ground-test article and never flew. The source establishes hardware rollout, not the earliest public announcement of the named product.

  3. MilestoneConfirmed

    Earliest documented public appearance: published Chinook rollout photograph

    Earliest supported public appearance found in the sources reviewed for this research; not a claim of the first-ever announcement or original unveiling. Earlier evidence may revise this date. The May 1961 Army Aviation issue publishes a named YHC-1B photograph and Boeing Vertol material. The underlying April 28 rollout remains a separate event; its public-access status is not inferred.

Program and variant milestones. Dates show only the precision the sources give.

Variants1

Variants of this program. Their unit costs, quantities and operating costs are in the cost table below.

Cost to the Government

Program totals · 3

  • Block II R&D totalShared Block II development scope.
    CH-47F Block II December 2019 SAR, FY2021 budget Department of Defense · figure Dec 2019 SAR
    $811.2MThen-year $
  • SOCOM procurement portion for six aircraftArmy common-aircraft funding is outside this line. This is not the total acquisition cost of six MH-47Gs.
    MH-47
    $149.883MThen-year $
  • R&D program totalA separately identified lifetime development total has not been verified. This is not a zero-cost estimate.
    MH-47
    Source not recorded
    Not established

Unit costs · 2

  • Block II average procurement / aircraftMixed Block II program includes conventional CH-47F and 73 special-operations MH-47G aircraft. Not a standard Block I flyaway quote.
    CH-47F Block II December 2019 SAR, FY2021 budget Department of Defense · figure Dec 2019 SAR · +1 more
    $39.511MThen-year $
  • Acquisition / unitA source with a defensible unit scope and dollar basis has not been verified.
    MH-47
    Source not recorded
    Not established

Quantities · 4

Operating costs · 3

1Published billing rate for use by another DoD component. It is not the fully burdened cost of ownership.

Earlier observations · 7

Superseded estimates and prices, each in its original scope and dollar basis.

Unit costs · 2

Operating costs · 5

1Published billing rate for use by another DoD component. It is not the fully burdened cost of ownership.

Block II is not one uniform aircraft price

The selected acquisition report groups conventional and special-operations helicopters in one Block II program. Its average changes with production schedule and mix, so the MH-47G profile separately identifies SOCOM-funded work.

Funding is split across services

SOCOM’s procurement line funds the special-operations portion while the Army funds common aircraft costs. Dividing this line by six would understate a complete aircraft’s acquisition cost.

Open research: Figures retain the date and scope of the original source. A historical count, cumulative delivery or procurement plan is not today’s mission-capable inventory. A source with a defensible unit scope and dollar basis has not been verified. A dated, variant-specific U.S. fleet count has not been verified. A separately identified lifetime development total has not been verified. This is not a zero-cost estimate.

What the government budgets and pays for this program, from budget justification books, appropriations, acquisition reports and contract announcements. Each figure states its dollar basis. What contractors were obligated is under Contracts.

Contracts$7.37B obligated since FY2008

Contractors9

  1. Boeing$7.33B 99%
  2. Honeywell International$30.8M 0.4%
  3. RTX$6.6M 0.1%
  4. GE Aerospace$607K 0.0%
  5. Booz Allen Hamilton$494K 0.0%
  6. BAE Systems$295K 0.0%
  7. Lockheed Martin$230K 0.0%
  8. Curtiss-Wright$169K 0.0%
  9. Textron$61K 0.0%

Awards50

Obligations are signed USAspending prime-contract actions coded to this program, FY2008 to date, credited to the company that received each action. Obligations are money committed, not company revenue.

Supply Chain1

Major components and the companies that make them.