![]() So, its heaviest lifter will have to wait. The service has embarked on an ambitious effort to modernize its light and medium helicopters, and that leaves scant funding for the other airframes in the inventory. There isn’t much mystery about why the Army has delayed giving the go-ahead to Block II upgrades. Without Block II, some of the service’s most heavily used equipment cannot be airlifted on the battlefield. The increased payload is important, because Chinook in its Block II configuration will be the only rotorcraft in the fleet capable of lifting an M777 howitzer or Joint Light Tactical Vehicle-successor to the ubiquitous but under-protected Humvee. The payload will increase without sacrificing any of the features needed to maximize survivability in wartime. These include an improved rotor system, an improved drive train, an improved fuel system, a strengthened structure, digital flight controls, upgraded electrical system and various other upgrades. In other words, there is no “Plan B”-the Army either upgrades Chinook or soldiers will have to go to war without the various enhancements the service had been planning. Chinook is expected to remain in service through 2060, and plans for a potential successor have barely progressed to the PowerPoint stage. It's not that the Army has something better waiting in the wings. The upgrades collectively are known as the “Block II” variant of the CH-47F, and the service says it will make a decision on whether to proceed in the third quarter of 2023. However, the company faces a challenge with upgrading Chinook to its latest configuration: the Army has repeatedly delayed giving the upgrades a formal go-ahead, and thus Boeing has had to fight on Capitol Hill every year to keep the upgrade effort on track.
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