US Army Special Operations Aviation Command/Boeing MH-47G Chinook
The H-47 Chinook program is Boeing’s longest running production program and one of the longest running in aviation history. With the first delivery of a YHC-1B (CH-47A) to the US Army in August 1962, the year 2024 will see its 62nd year of continuous H-47 deliveries worldwide. Based on its long-lived sibling, the CH-47, the MH-47G is the most advanced version of the multi-mission Chinook. And like its brother, many of the MH-47D/Es that preceded the ‘G’ model were originally produced as CH-47A, CH-47C, and C/MH-47D variants.
Whether it’s a “new build” or “rebuild,” the MH-47Gs operated by the US Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment focus on troop assault/resupply and reconnaissance missions usually conducted at night in adverse weather and at low altitudes. It completes these missions with larger capacity, long-range fuel tanks, aerial refueling, integrated electronic warfare and weapons suite, FLIR, and multi-mode terrain avoidance/following radar, as well as a Common Avionics Architecture System, which includes a Digital Automated Flight Control System.
Displaying its multi-mission versatility, this month’s photo shows Special Warfare Combat Crewmen repositioning a special warfare boat from a point on land or water to another location.
Special Boat Team takes flight with Nightstalkers
Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen from Special Boat Team 12, stationed at Naval Base Coronado, California, with the help of aviators from 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, conducted a Maritime External Air Transportation System training evolution in Moses Lake, Washington, May 21, 2014. MEATS is a way to move a watercraft from a point on land or water to somewhere else using an Army MH-47G Chinook helicopter. The crewmen rig the boat to the helicopter as it hovers above, and then climb a rope ladder to board the helicopter before moving to the final destination, where they will slide down a rope to the boat before the helicopter disconnects the hoist cables.
Photo: US Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Prows
Description by Ken Bartie
Resources:
- Boeing MH-47G Chinook, Vertipedia, Vertical Flight Society
- Special Boat Team takes flight with Nightstalkers, May 12, 2014, DVIDS website
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