HeliHub.com has been made aware by industry sources that the first two of a new order for CH-47F Chinooks for the United Arab Emirates have been delivered.  The pair arrived in the Middle Eastern country by air freight on Sunday or Monday of this week, and are serialled 2501 and 2502 and are understood to be the first pair of an order signed in October 2011 following a request notified in December 2009 by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency for sixteen of the type.   A Boeing press release in January 2012 indicated only six were destined for UAE at that point in time, so we assume that a further 10 are on option for the future.

Photos are not currently available of the two new aircraft, so we thus present a file photo of the F model here.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com