Egypt has placed an FMS request with the US to acquire 23 CH-47F Chinook helicopters and associated equipment from Boeing.
The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of CH-47F Chinook helicopters and related equipment to Egypt for an estimated cost of $2.6 billion, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The principal contractor will be Boeing Helicopters Aircraft Company, Honeywell Engine Company and Science and Engineering Services, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress accordingly.
The CH-47F Chinook is Boeing’s flagship heavy lift helicopter and among the heaviest in the world. It is the workhorse aircraft for U.S. and other military forces and is used to ferry troops and supplies.
In addition to the helicopters themselves, Egypt aims to acquire 56 T-55-GA-714A turboshaft engines from Honeywell; 52 inertial navigation systems with embedded GPS; 75 7.62mm M240 machine guns made by FN Herstal; and extended-range fuel systems.
Sensor systems include 29 AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) units from BAE Systems plus classified software; AN/APR-39 radar warning receivers from Northrop Grumman; AN/AVR-2B laser detector sets and AN/ARN-147 landing aid receivers from Collins Aerospace; and AN/AVS-6 NVGs from L3Harris.
HF radios, radar altimeters and tactical air navigation units from Collins Aerospace are also included in the FMS request.
The addition of the 23 CH-47 Chinooks of the latest model will significantly reinforce the Egyptian Air Force’s already very significant vertical lift capability.
The Egyptian Armed Forces have in their inventory a large number of assault and transport helicopters of all types, including 19 CH-47D Chinook and several dozen medium helicopters of Russian/Soviet and European origin.
Egypt continues to rely on the United States for defence equipment and this latest sale came less than a week after Cairo requested TOW 2A missiles.
Boeing has already supplied the Egyptian Air Force with the AH-64D Apache Longbow and it is set to upgrade 25 of these aircraft to the AH-64E Apache Guardian standard.