CH-47F Chinooks for the Republic of Korea (RoK)

After much debate, the Republic of Korea has requested to buy eighteen Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters, together with spare engines and various mission systems. On 6 December 2022, the US Department of State approved this deal which will be an Foreign Military Sale (FMS) project.

Currently, the RoK operates around 43 Chinooks, most of them are over thirty years old, some parts of the former US Army Korea CH-47D Chinooks (upgraded older models) are even much older. The Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) is the main operator of the Chinook, with 301 and 302 Aviation Battalion at Icheon air base operating the CH-47D and CH-47D(LR)/SD variants. The air force (RoKAF) operates the HH-47D variant with 231 Combat Search& Rescue Squadron at Cheongju air base.

In October 2020, a study of the Defense Acquisition and Program Administration (DAPA) concluded it would be cheaper to buy new helicopters than opgrading (part of) the existing fleet. Main reason for the high upgrade costs is the fact Boeing no longer produces parts for the older versions, so ordering these parts specially could be very expensive. Also the integration of new Korean made equipment into upgraded airframes seemed impossible due to incompatibility, according to the study.

In July 2022, the RoK government decided to buy new Chinooks under the Heavy-lift Helicopter II programme. The new helicopters will be delivered by 2028, however as Korea needs more Chinooks, a follow-up order might be expected. It is thought some of the new batch will be MH-47 special operations variants.

Photo (just illustrative) by Jeroen Hensbergen (Scramble Archive)