RNLAF'S NEW
O
n Wednesday, 14 April 2021, the first of the new CH-47F MYII CAAS Chinooks of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht) was delivered to the Dutch Defense Helicopter Command (Defensie Helikopter Commando) at Gilze-Rijen AB. One week later, on Thursday afternoon, 22 April 2021, the first official mission of the new helicopter was conducted when the Chinook CH-47F with registration D-427 flew in the GLV5 low-flying area, close to Eindhoven AB (GLV5=”Gebied voor LaagVliegen” #5).
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BACKGROUND In 2015, the Royal Netherlands Air Force decided to buy 14 new CH-47F helicopters, as the CH-47D models were reaching their end-of-life after 25 years in service. The six existing CH-47F helicopters will be upgraded to the same CH-47F MYII CAAS version. CH-47F is officially known as "CH-47F MYII CAAS" (MYII= Multi-Year batch, CAAS=Common Avionics Architecture System)) and this helicopter is more or
