Indian Air Force inducts CH47 Chinook helicopters at Chandigarh airfield

CHANDIGARH: The advanced heavy-lift Chinook helicopter were inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday at an impressive ceremony held at the Air Force station in Chandigarh.
Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa and air officer commanding in chief (AOC-in-C), Western Air Command, Air Marshal R Nambiar and other senior IAF and defence officers attended the induction ceremony.
Salil Gupte, head of Boeing India handed over the symbolic key of the Chinook helicopter to the IAF chief.
Addressing the gathering at the induction ceremony, the IAF chief said that it is a red-letter day and induction of Chinook would be game changer for Indian Air Force.
Dhanoa explained the multiple role and round-the-clock operational capabllity of Chinook.
Air chief informed that a total of 15 Chinook would be inducted and four of them would be based at the Chandigarh. The remaining 11 choppers would be based at Dinjan airfield in eastern sector.
The advanced helicopters code named—CH-47F(I) Chinook would help the armed forces in combat operations and transportation of troops, a task earlier largely done by Mi-26.
The tandem rotor helicopter, which has two large horizontal rotors, arrived in Chandigarh in February for pre-induction exercise. The flying is carried out by IAF pilots accompanied by pilots of US company from which the IAF has purchased these flying machines.
The IAF would be getting a total of 15 Chinook as part of the deal with US and initially four of them has been has been inducted. The heavy-lift chopper would be based at Chandigarh, which is a strategically important transport aircrafts base for the troops deployed in high altitude areas of Jammu and Kashmir including Leh-Ladakh region.
The entire airframe of this new twin-engine Flying machine has a high degree of ballistics tolerance. Most important feature of the chopper is that its internal cabin volume is sufficient for transporting fully equipped infantry soldiers for specialized operations and artillery guns and other equipment. The latest and more powerful engines would greatly enhance its payload carriage capability at higher altitudes.
In 2015, India had signed a $3.1bn contract with Boeing for the procurement of 22 AH-64E Apache attack, and 15 CH-47F(I) Chinook transport helicopters. The US will provide weapons, radars and electronic warfare suites as part of the deal. The IAF pilots had undergone training in October 2018 in Delaware, US, to fly Chinook.