Boeing submits Army helicopter proposal

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP, Pa., Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has been given a proposal from Boeing for a multiyear contract for the production and delivery of 155 CH-47F helicopters, Boeing announced.

"This second multiyear contract proposal will provide not only the vertical lift capability that warfighters use and need every day but also will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for taxpayers and the U.S. government," said Leanne Caret, Boeing vice president, H-47 Programs.

"With this contract Boeing, and its partners in more than 45 states, will be able to negotiate longer-term agreements with suppliers, make necessary investments in production tooling and processes and more effectively plan for capital expenditures."

The H-47 program is halfway through its first multiyear contract, awarded in 2008, for 191 CH-47F Chinook aircraft and originally valued at $4.3 billion.

This second five-year, firm fixed-price proposal would provide the Army with close to the full complement of 464 Chinooks outlined in the U.S. Department of Defense program of record for the CH-47F helicopter.

The new contract will yield double-digit percentage savings over a single-year procurement strategy Boeing said.

Since completing the first CH-47F production aircraft in August 2006, Boeing has equipped eight U.S. Army units and is in the process of equipping the ninth.

Six units have completed deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the helicopter has logged nearly 70,000 flight hours and maintained an operational readiness rate of more than 85 percent conducting air assault, transport, medical evacuations and support operations.