Chandigarh, November 29: American defence manufacturer Boeing is likely to start delivering CH-47 Chinook helicopters to the Indian Air Force (IAF) from February next year. The Helicopters will be delivered at Gujarat’s Okhla port in a partially dissembled form. According to a report published in the Tribune, facilities will be set up near Okhla to re-assemble and test-fly the helicopters, before handing them to the IAF. The Chinooks will be later flown to their permanent base in Chandigarh, after acceptance trials. Two hangars and a maintenance bay are to be set up in Chandigarh along with associated technical and logistics facilities.

Meanwhile, the IAF’s crew is getting trained on the Apache AH-64 E and Chinook CH 47F (I) helicopters. India signed a $ 3 billion deal to buy 22 Apache and 15 Chinook helicopters in September 2015 with Boeing and the government of the United States. The Indian government signed a direct contract with the Boeing to procure Chinook helicopters, while the deal to buy Apache helicopters is a mixed one. A part of the deal was signed with the US aviation company and the other half is signed with the US government under foreign military sales route. Indian Air Force Sends Six-Member Crew To France For Rafale Jets Training

Chinooks have a payload capacity of about 10 tonnes. The IAF had four Mi-26s to airlift weapons and men, but now left with only one serviceable chopper. The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is an American twin-engine, tandem rotor, heavy-lift helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, earlier known as Boeing Vertol.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 29, 2018 06:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).