|
|
|
 |
| CH-47F MY II CAAS First Aircraft Arrival |
| Latest update: November 2021 |
| 298 squadron receives its first CH-47F MY II CAAS |
| The first CH-47F MY II CAAS to be assigned to 298 squadron touched down at Gilze-Rijen air base on Wednesday April 14, 2021. It marks a new milestone for the squadron who just celebrated their 75 anniversary in 2020. Established on April 16, 1945 the squadron is the fourth oldest squadron serving within today’s Royal Netherlands Air Force. |
| CH-47D and CH-47F Chinook |
| In 2020 the RNLAF celebrated 25 years of Chinook operations. The first seven Chinooks arrived in the period from August 1995 until February 1996. These were purchased from the Royal Canadian Air Force who had retired their CH-47C. Before entering service with 298 squadron these were upgraded by Boeing to CH-47D standard. Boeing was also awarded a contract to deliver six new built CH-47Ds which were delivered in 1998. Two of these were lost during operations in Afghanistan while being deployed in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission. Boeing was awarded another Chinook contract purchasing six CH-47Fs in 2007. Both purchases were made through a Direct Commercial Sales contract. The Last F-model entered service in September 2013. Initially these were equally divided between 298 and 302 squadrons. One was reassigned to 302 squadron to support its training and exercise requirements at Fort Hood, Texas. At the Texan base, the squadron works alongside their US Army colleagues as well as with their Royal Netherlands Army colleagues of 11 Air Mobile Brigade. The CH-47F was withdrawn from service in 2020 and transported to Boeing where they are inducted into the remanufacture program. |
| CH-47F MY II CAAS |
|
The Defence Material Organization (DMO) signed a contract with Boeing
Defence to supply the RNLAF with 20 CH-47F MYII CAAS helicopters divided
into 14 new built airframes and six remanufactured helicopters. All are
purchased through the Foreign Military Sales system with the US DOD
awarding the production contracts. On April 14, 2016 Boeing Co., Ridley
Township, Pennsylvania, was awarded the first contract to build 12
Chinook helicopters. One year
later, on April 28, the second contract was awarded and provided for the
delivery of two new built and six remanufactured Chinooks. Preceding the
contract award the DMO signed a Letter of Acceptance. Subsequently, the US Army drew up the Supplemental Statement of Work, which specified the Dutch specific requirements and added the order into the existing US Army production contract (Multi Year II). The RNLAF MY II CAAS is built to the same standard as the current CH-47Fs fielded to the US Army and nine other international customers. Of the 14 new built CH-47Fs eleven are one-on-one replacements, two were purchased as replacements for the CH-47Ds lost in accidents and the remaining CH-47F was purchased to support the growing demand for heavy helicopter transport missions. The DMO accepted the first CH-47F MY II CAAS on March 31, 2020. A few days later the second Chinook was accepted. Both were flown to Science and Engineering Services International (SES-I) in Huntsville, Alabama where they arrived on May 6. SES-I is contracted to install the Dutch mission specific equipment in the Chinooks. After completing the first Chinooks were delivered to 302 squadron. CH-47Fs to be delivered to 298 squadron are temporarily stored at the facility before being transported by ship to the port of Antwerp, Belgium and then by truck to Logistics Center Woensdrecht (LCW). Here they will be reassembled and checked. Crews from 298 squadron will perform the functional check flights as well as the short flight from Woensdrecht to Gilze-Rijen. In Texas the crews assigned to 302 squadron attended the conversion course ran by their US Army colleagues. After graduation, the squadron immediately started to train 298 colleagues. Boeing Defense is now in the process of completing the six remanufactured Chinooks all of which are to be delivered to the DMO by the end of 2021. |
| First Aircraft Arrival, Gilze-Rijen |
|
The official first aircraft arrival ceremony took place at Gilze-Rijen
on April 14. Due to COVID-19 measures in place only a few officials and
guests were attending the ceremony which was broadcasted live by the
RNLAF on YouTube. Aircraft D-472 who had already arrived at the base on April 1 took off together with a CH-47D and the AS532-U2 Cougar and AH-64D Apache respectively assigned to 300 and 301 squadrons. At the base speeches were held by state secretary for defence Ms. Barbara Visser, Director of the DMO Vice-Admiral Arie-Jan de Waard and commander RNLAF Lieutenant General Dennis Luyt. The helicopter four-ship performed a flyby after which D-472 landed and received the traditional water salute. Its aircraft commander handed over the ‘keys’ to the commander of the Defence Helicopter Command Commodore Robert Adang. After his speech he gave the keys to the commander of 298 squadron Lieutenant Colonel Niels van den Berg marking the start of a new era for 298 squadron. The focus for the squadron is now to convert its CH-47D pilots and loadmasters to the CAAS II as well as start their road to Initial Operation Capability (IOC). |
| Road to IOC and FOC |
|
298 squadron is
scheduled to receive 14 CH-47Fs during 2021. Three have been delivered
until mid-May. Roughly every four weeks a new Chinook will be delivered
to the squadron. Eventually one of the helicopters assigned to 302
squadron will be reassigned to 298 squadron. Already in the first
quarter of 2022 the RNLAF has planned to reach its IOC with the CH-47F.
At that moment, several crews have completed the conversion syllabus.
Part of the new fleet is available to be tasked with several missions
for a short period. The CH-47D will be used for longer assignments. The
prime focus for the squadron is the conversion of all its crews to the
CAAS. Full Operational Capability (FOC) |
| RNLAF CH-47F Chinook fleet |
| Below table provides an overview of all CH-47 Chinook helicopters operated or to be operated by the RNLAF. |
|
| Notes: TBC: To Be Confirmed. CH-47D: The last D-model will be withdrawn from service in 2022. An undisclosed number has been put up for sale. During this process no further comments will be made. Some CH-47Ds will also be preserved. These will be allocated to a museum, as gate guard or used as instructional airframe at Gilze-Rijen. CH-47F: All six have been stripped of parts to be used in the remanufacture program. These Chinooks have been sold to Unical Aviation. Please visit CH-47F-production where the latest information related to the status of delivery is available. Photographs of all Dutch Chinooks can be viewed in the CH-47 Chinook photo gallery. |
| Celebrating 50 years of Chinook in RNLAF service |
|
The CH-47Fs are planned to be operated until 2045. That year will mark
the 50th anniversary of Dutch Chinook operations. Except offering
increased range and payload the CAAS will play an important role in the
RNLAF 5th generation air force. Agility and information dominance will
become more important in the future. Except being assigned its regular
mission of transporting personnel and cargo (by underslung load) and
firefighting duties the Chinook will gather information with its sensor
package. This information will be shared with its partners providing all
players a better picture of either the training or combat battlefield.
Further enhancement for the pilots are various systems. This includes an improved autopilot allowing for safe landings to be made even in poor visibility conditions. The mission planning system has been improved allowing for much more relevant data to be pre-loaded into the Chinook. 298 squadron will have a much more capable helicopter to support its own training requirements as well as supports its Dutch armed forces colleagues. During the planned 25 years of operations upgrades will be made to the airframes. With the new standard CH-47F and its current 11 operators with most likely more to follow this will be much easier and cheaper. Without a doubt 298 squadron is set to celebrate their 100th anniversary coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Dutch Chinooks in 2045. |
| The author would like to thank RNLAF Col. Koen (DMO project officer CH-47F MYII CAAS) and Rebecca (PAO DHC Gilze-Rijen AB) for their assistance. |
 |