Final KLu CH-47F delivered
On 9 November 2023, the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu, Royal Netherlands Air Force) took delivery of the final CH-47F MYII CAAS (Common Avionics Architecture System) Chinook.
The heavy transport helicopter, serial D-606, was flown from the Logistiek Centrum Woensdrecht (LCW, Logistic Centre Woensdrecht) to Gilze-Rijen air base, where it will be operated by 298 Squadron.
The first CH-47F was delivered to 298 Squadron Nihil Nobis Nimium on 14 April 2021. In total the KLu has ordered twenty CH-47F Chinooks of which fifteen are operated by 298 Squadron at Gilze-Rijen and the other five, exclusively used for training, by 302 Squadron at Robert Gray AAF (TX), also known as Fort Cavazos-Killeen.
Originally, the KLu wanted to buy fourteen new CH-47Fs and to upgrade the six "older" CH-47Fs (serials D-890 to D-895). In the Defence budget for 2015, the Dutch government decided to invest in improving the employability and sustainability of the armed forces. The project “Chinook Replacement & Modernisation” involved the acquisition of fourteen new CH-47F MYII CAAS Chinooks for the replacement of the eleven older CH-47Ds. Eventually it was decided not to upgrade the six older CH-47Fs, but to buy new ones, making up the fleet of twenty Chinooks.
Credit photo: Kees van der Mark