Boeing to supply nine additional MH-47G Chinook Block II helicopters to U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command.

Boeing has received a $265M order to manufacture and supply an additional nine Block II Chinook helicopters to the U.S. Army's Special Operations Aviation Command.

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An MH-47G from the 160th SOAR(A) conducts Maritime External Air Transportation System training with the U.S. Navy's Special Boat Team 12. (Picture source: U.S. Army/Sgt. Christopher Prows)

The company said Friday it is currently under contract to provide 24 units of the MH-47G variant and is scheduled to deliver the first of the new configuration later this year.

According to the Department of Defense, the award increases the cumulative value of the original contract to $285.8M and DoD expects the company to fulfill the order by February 2023.

Helicopter assembly efforts will take place at the company's Ridley Park, Pa., manufacturing facility.

An MH-47G from the 160th SOAR(A) conducts Maritime External Air Transportation System training with the U.S. Navy's Special Boat Team 12. (Picture source: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Prows)

Boeing MH-47G Chinook helicopter:

The MH-47G is used in heavy-lift missions such as the transportation of troops, ammunition, vehicles, equipment, fuel and supplies, as well as civil and humanitarian relief missions. The helicopter can conduct long-range missions at a low level, in adverse weather conditions during the day and at night.

The helicopter is armed with two M134 7.62mm electrically operated, air-cooled miniguns and two M240 7.62mm belt-fed machine guns mounted on either side of the fuselage at the forward and rear sections.

Upgrades to the Block II version include newly designed rotor blades, major changes to the drive system, installation of non-segmented fuel cells, lightweight fuel pods and other improvements. The aircraft is expected to eventually regain 4K lbs of additional load capacity.