Egypt to develop new Chinook base

An Egyptian Air Force CH-47D Chinook helicopter is seen during Exercise ‘Guardians of the Nile' in Sudan on 31 May 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt will renovate an old airbase for the CH-47F Chinook heavy lift helicopters it has ordered rather than use its existing CH-47D base, a market research notice released by the US Army Corps of Engineers on 24 July revealed.

The notice said the 12 new CH-47s would be based at Anchas Air Base, which is more commonly Romanised as Inchas and located northeast of Cairo. The base was used by fighter jets in the past but no longer appears to permanently host any aircraft.

It will require extensive development that includes a new maintenance hangar that can accommodate four Chinooks, the expansion of its existing maintenance apron, the extension of taxiways and roads, the renovation of its existing water and wastewater treatment facilities, and additional airfield lighting, according to the notice.

The US Army Corps of Engineers expects the project to cost between USD25 million and USD100 million and take 30 months to complete.

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced in May 2022 that the US government had approved the sale of 23 CH-47Fs to Egypt.

Boeing announced in January 2023 that it had been awarded a USD426 million contract to deliver 12 CH-47Fs that it said would replace the Egyptian Air Force's legacy CH-47Ds.

This may have been a reference to a USD497 million contract that the US Department of Defense announced on 30 December 2022 had been awarded to Boeing for CH-47F helicopters. It did not identify the customer(s) but said the contract is expected to be completed by December 2025.