Britain finalizes deal to buy 14 Chinook helicopters

LONDON — Britain’s defense secretary has committed to a deal to acquire a new fleet of Boeing-built extended-range Chinook helicopters.

Fourteen CH-47-ER Chinooks, destined principally for use by British special forces, will be delivered to the Royal Air Force under the terms of the deal signed between the British and U.S. governments.

Defense Secretary Grant Shapps on Thursday confirmed the procurement, known as the Chinook Capability Sustainment Program, will advance.

The defense ministry originally confirmed the deal in May 2021, but talks to complete the negotiations were slowed by British concerns about cost growth and other issues.

The British set the baseline budget for the program at £1.5 billion (U.S. $1.9 billion) but inflation, foreign exchange and other problems increased costs.

At one point during the negotiations last year, then-defense secretary Ben Wallace was widely reported in the U.K. to have threatened to cancel the program due to spiraling costs.

Giving evidence to the Parliamentary defense committee in November, Shapps said he too had raised the issue of axing the procurement with U.S. officials.

“We have to weigh up the cost of exiting a contract as well as going into one,” he told the committee. “I have discussed the issue with [U.S. Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin.”

Procurement minister James Cartlidge told Parliament last year Britain’s weakening exchange rate against the U.S. dollar alone had cost the program £37 million as of Sept. 11, 2023.

In a statement Thursday, the defense ministry said negotiations with the U.S. government had produced a cost reduction.

“The U.K. has reduced costs for elements of the program by more than £300 million, ensuring value for money whilst providing our armed forces with a cutting-edge heavy lift capability,” the ministry said, though it did not release the total cost of the program or details about the reductions.

The current delivery schedule has not been made public, although a website operated by the Defence Equipment & Support arm of the defense ministry says the first delivery is set for 2027 with a manufacturing program end of 2029.

The new airframes will replace the most obsolescent Chinooks in an Royal Air Force fleet that is currently shrinking CH-47 numbers from 60 helicopters to 51. The 14 oldest Chinooks will be retired from the U.K. fleet as the new machines enter service.

No decision has yet been made on what will happen to the Chinooks when they are pensioned off .

The overall size of the British Chinook fleet will remain at 51 aircraft as the new aircraft are delivered and the oldest aircraft are retired.

The extended-range helicopter will have double the range of standard CH-47s operated by the Royal Air Force and help fill a special forces capability gap created by the early retirement of Lockheed Martin-made Hercules C-130s last year.

In a statement, Boeing said it looks forward to delivering the helicopters.

The extended-range Chinook buy is the second major British helicopter procurement to advance recently.

In late February, the defense ministry triggered the start of a near £1.2 billion competition to replace Puma and some smaller helicopters in what is known as the New Medium Helicopter program. Airbus, Leonardo and Lockheed Martin are all expected to respond.

Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——英国国防大臣已承诺达成一项协议，采购一批波音公司制造的新型远程“支奴干”直升机。

根据英国和美国政府签署的协议条款，14架CH-47-ER“支奴干”直升机将交付给英国皇家空军，主要用于英国特种部队。

国防部长格兰特·沙普斯周四证实，这项名为“奇努克直升机能力保障计划”的采购项目将继续推进。

英国国防部最初于 2021 年 5 月确认了这笔交易，但由于英国方面对成本增长和其他问题的担忧，完成谈判的进程有所放缓。

英国为该计划设定的基准预算为 15 亿英镑（19 亿美元），但通货膨胀、外汇和其他问题增加了成本。

据英国媒体广泛报道，去年谈判期间，时任国防大臣本·华莱士曾威胁要取消该项目，原因是成本不断飙升。

沙普斯在 11 月向议会国防委员会作证时表示，他也曾向美国官员提出取消采购的问题。

“我们必须权衡退出合同和签订合同的成本，”他告诉委员会。“我已经和（美国国防部长）劳埃德·奥斯汀讨论过这个问题。”

采购大臣詹姆斯·卡特里奇去年向议会表示，截至 2023 年 9 月 11 日，仅英国对美元汇率走弱就已使该计划损失了 3700 万英镑。

国防部周四发表声明称，与美国政府的谈判已取得成本削减成果。

英国国防部表示：“英国已将该项目部分成本削减了 3 亿多英镑，确保物有所值，同时为我们的武装部队提供尖端的重型运输能力。”不过，国防部并未公布该项目的总成本或有关削减的细节。

目前的交付计划尚未公开，不过国防部国防装备与支持部门运营的一个网站称，首批交付定于 2027 年进行，制造计划将于 2029 年结束。

新机型将取代英国皇家空军机队中最老旧的奇努克直升机，目前英国皇家空军正在将CH-47直升机的数量从60架缩减至51架。随着新机型的服役，英国机队中最老的14架奇努克直升机将退役。

目前尚未决定奇努克直升机退役后的处置方案。

随着新飞机的交付和老旧飞机的退役，英国奇努克机队的总规模将保持在 51 架。

这款远程直升机的航程将是英国皇家空军使用的标准 CH-47 的两倍，有助于填补去年洛克希德·马丁公司制造的大力神 C-130 提前退役后，特种部队能力上的缺口。

波音公司在一份声明中表示，期待交付这些直升机。

此次采购远程型奇努克直升机是英国近期推进的第二项重大直升机采购项目。

2月下旬，英国国防部启动了一项耗资近12亿英镑的竞标项目，旨在替换“美洲狮”直升机及部分小型直升机，该项目被称为“新型中型直升机计划”。空客、莱昂纳多和洛克希德·马丁公司预计都将参与竞标。

Andrew Chuter 是《防务新闻》的英国记者。