US Army prepares Chinook engine testbed for flight

The US Army and Boeing have conducted ground runs of an NCH-47D Chinook heavy-lift helicopter fitted with the more powerful General Electric (GE) T408 engine, ahead of an anticipated first flight in the coming days.

The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center tweeted images of the testbed Chinook Block 2 helicopter fitted with the engines that normally power its Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion competitor.

Replacing the Chinook’s incumbent Honeywell T55 engines with the GE T408 involved some major structural changes to the supporting mounts given the larger size of the new powerplant. Boeing noted that because the T55 spins in the opposite direction to the T408, a new gearbox is needed.

As Boeing has previously explained to Jane’s , swapping powerplants will increase the Chinook’s power from a combined 10,000 shp to 15,000 shp. While the US Army currently has no programme-of-record for fitting new engines, it is “the logical next step” to the Block 2 upgrade that is geared at reinstating a payload that has been lost over recent years as more mission equipment has been installed onto the helicopter, the company said.

As noted by the US Army, the project began in 2015 to “identify and reduce cargo-class engine integration risks in support of potential future capability and to evaluate engine integration and performance through a flight demonstration”. It will run through to fiscal year 2020.