Defence

Boeing's first production CH-47F Chinook Improved Cargo Helicopter (ICH) completed its first flight last week from the company's Rotorcraft Systems facility in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (pictured below left).

Boeing will deliver the new CH-47F to the US Army for operational testing before being deployed in 2007.

The CH-47F ICH is a remanufactured version of the CH-47D Chinook cargo helicopter with the new Honeywell T55-GA-714A engines.

The CH-47F and the US Army's MH-47G special operations Chinooks will provide the base for the avionics suite, which include terrain following and terrain avoiding radar and an integrated forward looking infrared system, to be used for the proposed US Air Force combat search and rescue programme HH-47.