The U.S. Army’s proposed Block 2 upgrade of the CH-47 Chinook could begin in 2017 if the service and the Pentagon work out the details of an official program, according to the Army’s cargo helicopters program manager. The Army plans to extend the service life of the Boeing workhorse helicopter another 45 years through a series of upgrades, similar to what it has done for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

The cargo helicopters project office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is “dedicated toward maintaining relevancy of this platform through at least 2060,” Col. Rob Barrie, its commander, told reporters at a Boeing-sponsored event on January 28. “Our initial plan in doing that is a blocking strategy, ([to)] over time come up with ways where we can affordably maintain the performance and the relevance of this system…We’re engaged with the Army, we’re engaged with OSD ([the Office of the Secretary of Defense)]. It will be the programatics that that will be rather complex.”

The project office has proposed a timeline that would see the Army conduct an analysis of alternatives of the technologies that would comprise the first block upgrade, followed by a “Milestone B” decision to begin engineering and manufacturing development—the official start of the program. Production would begin around 2021, Barrie said. The office has indicated that an “advanced Chinook rotor blade” to improve the helicopter’s performance in hot-and-high conditions and a fuel system modification would be components of Block 2.

“There’s acknowledgement inside the enterprise that a blocking strategy is likely the way to go,” he said. “The question we really have to determine is what will that blocking strategy look like and what bits and pieces of technology will be inserted in each of those blocks as we maintain the relevancy of the platform through 2060.” Whether or not the Army adopts the block approach, it is working with Boeing on engineering changes that will sustain the Chinook over time, Barrie added. “We just wouldn’t do it in one integrated fashion, which the blocking strategy is going to bring forward. Instead we would do them independently as funds became available and as aircraft became available.”

Last October, the Army took delivery from Boeing of its 300th CH-47F model Chinook, which features the Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System and a digital automatic flight control system. It now has 309 of the F models, which are replacing CH-47Ds as the new generation is fielded. The Army expects to retire all of the D models by 2019. It also operates 150 E models.

Boeing is working under a second multiyear contract and last year delivered 54 Chinooks. The majority went to the U.S. Army, including two MH-47Gs to the service’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The company delivered a final CH-47F to Canada and three Mk6 variants to the UK Royal Air Force. It will complete the delivery of all 14 Mk6 helicopters by November. “We expect initial operational capability to be announced by the RAF and the UK MOD in the next couple of months, and we expect those aircraft to go straight into the fight wherever it may be required,” said Stephen Parker, Boeing vice president for cargo helicopters.