CH-47F Chinook

Chinook
Faction	U.S. Army British Army
Type	Heavy Transport Helicopter
Seats	28 seats: 1× Pilot 1× Co-Pilot 2× Side Gunners 1× Rear Gunner 23× Passengers
Item capacity	CH-47F: 3× Weapons 20× Magazines 10× Backpacks Chinook HC4: 36× Weapons 360× Magazines 10× Backpacks
Top speed	~ 290 km/h
Fuel capacity	1000 fuel units
Primary armament	Main: 2× M134 1× M240
Secondary armament	Defensive: 120× Countermeasures (Flares)
Variants	Chinook HC4
Games

The CH-47F Chinook is a heavy transport helicopter used by U.S. Army forces in ArmA 2. It was added with the release of the Operation Arrowhead expansion pack.

An alternate variant also exists, and is known as the Chinook HC4 in British service. It was added with the release of the British Armed Forces DLC.

Overview

• Role:
  • Troop transport

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The CH-47 Chinook is a versatile, twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. Its top speed of 315 km/h was faster any comparable helicopter in the 1960s and even many of today. The main use of the CH-47 includes troop movement, artillery emplacement and battlefield resupply. Armoury Description

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Design

This is a premium asset that requires ownership of the Operation Arrowhead expansion pack.

Essentially a re-manufactured version of the older CH-47D, the CH-47F is the latest variant in the Chinook family of tandem-rotor heavy-lift helicopters. Improvements include an upgraded avionics suite, more powerful engines, and a refurbished airframe re-constructed out of composite materials.

Armament
By default, the Chinook is always armed with two M134 miniguns that are fixed onto the windows on both sides of the fuselage (near the cockpit). A third weapon in the form of an M240 medium machine gun is also mounted to the rear cargo door.

Each M134 feeds from a 2,000-round linked belt with no spare belts to reload from while the rear M240 MMG feeds from 100-round belts stored in cloth boxes. The M240 has access to five boxes in total for a combined pool of 500 rounds.

Features
Functionally, it is similar to the Osprey utilised by the U.S. Marines and can carry a large amount of passengers in one go. While it's not capable of transitioning between a VTOL and fixed-wing flight mode, it is actually armed and can defend itself and its passengers whenever dropping or picking them up. On the other hand, the Chinook carries twice the number of passengers when compared to the Black Hawk.

Mobility
The Chinook can attain a top speed of up to 290 km/h, making it approximately ~ 18% faster than the Black Hawk (240 km/h) and the majority of non-tandem rotor helicopters. However, the Chinook is still slower than the Osprey VTOL (483 km/h) and does not come close to matching the latter when it transitions to fixed-wing flight.

Drawbacks
Although it is armed with 7.62 mm Gatling guns and MMGs, the Chinook's weapon systems are only intended for self-defence. Whereas gunships like the Mi-24P can continue to provide anti-armour and anti-infantry fire support after dropping off its passengers, the Chinook's weapons can only provide covering fire against infantry and unarmoured ground vehicles at most.

The Chinook's size also makes it easy to catch either of its rotors on tall structures and/or trees. Even though it isn't as large as the Osprey, the Chinook's pilot will have a harder time fitting into smaller LZs that the Black Hawk would otherwise be able to land in with minimal difficulty.

Crew Capacity
The Chinook has a maximum seating capacity of twenty-eight personnel (including the crew). This consists of the pilot, a rear gunner, two more side gunners, and up to twenty-three passengers who sit on side-mounted seats in the cargo compartment (the co-pilot is considered as the twenty-fourth passenger).

Variants

• Chinook HC4

This is a premium asset that requires ownership of the British Armed Forces DLC.

Modified variant used exclusively by the British Army.

It is virtually identical to the U.S. Army's CH-47F in every aspect, with the only difference being that it can store twelve times as much equipment in its cargo bay (36× weapons and 360× magazines, backpack capacity remains unchanged at 10×).

Protection: Hitpoints

Both variants of the Chinook have base armour values of 30.

LEGEND
Green = Hull
Orange = Engines
Yellow = Main rotor (1)
Dark blue = Main rotor (2)

Hull

The Chinook's hull can take up to 30 points of damage. Depletion of its integrity will always result in a total loss.

Engines

The Chinook's engines can only take a maximum of 7.5 points of damage before they fail. 100% of incoming damage to either of the Chinook's engines will always be shared with the helicopter's main "health" pool. Destroying the engines has the potential to result in the helicopter's destruction if it is at or near critical "health" status.

Instruments

The cockpit's flight instruments are able to take only 4.5 points of damage before they fail. At least 30% of incoming damage will be shared with the helicopter's main "health" pool. Destruction of the instruments has the potential to cause the helicopter to explode if it is at critical "health" status.

Main rotors

Both of the Chinook's main rotors can withstand up to 30 points of damage before either of them suffer from failure. Up to 50% of incoming damage will always be shared with the helicopter's main "health" pool. Destroying the main rotors has the potential to cause the Chinook to explode if it is at critical "health" status.

Protection: Armour

LEGEND
Pink = iron.bisurf
Teal = armor_5mm_plate.bisurf
Purple = armor_7mm_plate.bisurf
Yellow = armor_11mm_plate.bisurf
Maroon = armor_23mm_plate.bisurf
Green = plexiplate.bisurf

.bisurf Parameter	iron.bisurf	armor_5mm_plate.bisurf	armor_7mm_plate.bisurf	armor_11mm_plate.bisurf	armor_23mm_plate.bisurf	plexiplate.bisurf
Density	7800	7800	7800	7800	7800	1180
Thickness	N/A; based on vehicle fire geometry thickness	5	7	11	23	2
bulletPenetrability	20	200	200	200	200	300
bulletPenetrabilityWithThickness	N/A; not used by iron.bisurf	13	13	13	13	150

The Chinook is protected by a mix of plexiglass, reinforced, and non-reinforced metal plates:

• The engine cowls are made out of iron.
• Most of the fuselage, cockpit, passenger cabin, and nose are protected by metal armour plates with a thickness of 5 millimetres.
• The fuselage side fairings are protected by metal armour plates with a thickness of 7 millimetres.
• Both of the main rotors, underbelly of the fuselage, and the ramp door are protected by metal armour plates with a thickness of 11 millimetres.
• The forward and aft pylon areas are protected by metal armour plates with a thickness of 23 millimetres.
• The Chinook's windows (cockpit/passenger cabin) are all protected by panes of plexiglass that have a thickness of 2 millimetres.

It should be noted that none of the Chinook's windows are bullet-resistant. They will not protect the crew and passengers from being hit by small arms fire.

Armament

Crew chiefs control the side/rear gunner positions on all variants of the Chinook, manning the twin M134 miniguns and rear door M240 machine gun:

M134

Ammo parameter	Value
Base damage value	25
Aerodynamic friction	-0.0009324
Muzzle velocity (m/s)	869
Expected velocity (m/s)	900
Deflection angle (degrees)	10°

Side window-mounted 7.62 mm Gatling guns.

They can toggle between two fire rate modes:

• 2000 rpm: "Fake" fire rate of ~ 1,998 rounds per minute, actual fire rate of ~ 666 RPM.
• 4000 rpm: "Fake" fire rate of ~ 3,999 rounds per minute, actual fire rate of ~ 1,333 RPM.

Regardless of the selected fire rate, the M134 has a muzzle velocity of 869 m/s. Accuracy-wise, it has a dispersion of 0.0017 rad. It is not possible to manually adjust the zeroing on either of the M134s.

M240

Ammo parameter	Value
Base damage value	12
Aerodynamic friction	-0.0009324
Muzzle velocity (m/s)	834
Expected velocity (m/s)	900
Deflection angle (degrees)	10°

Rear ramp door-mounted 7.62 mm medium machine gun.

It can attain a fire rate of up to 800 RPM and has a muzzle velocity of 834 m/s. Accuracy-wise, the M240 has a dispersion of 0.0012 rad. It takes at least 5 seconds to reload a fresh belt box or to fully rearm from supply truck.

Manual zeroing is available, starting from a minimum of 100 metres up to a maximum of 800 metres (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800). By default, it utilises a zeroing of 300 metres. The gun mount allows for a maximum horizontal rotation of 230 degrees and a vertical rotation limit of 50 degrees elevation and 50 degrees depression.

Avionics

MAWS

Both variants of the Chinook have a Missile Approach Warning System installed. It will warn the crew if there are missiles that have successfully locked onto the helicopter are homing in towards it.

RWR

Both variants of the Chinook have a Radar Warning Receiver installed. The crew will be alerted if they are being locked onto by a radar-based targeting system.

IWR

Both variants of the Chinook do not have access to an Infrared Warning Receiver. The crew will not be warned if an infrared-based weapon system is attempting to lock onto it.

LWR

Both variants of the Chinook are fitted with a Laser Warning Receiver. The crew will be warned if they are being locked onto by laser-based targeting systems.

AI

NOTE: The following information only applies to the AI.

Camouflage rating

Main article: AI Basics: Detection

The Chinook has a camouflage rating of 100.

Cost

Main article: AI Basics: Targeting priority

The Chinook has a cost value of 10000000.

Threat values

Main article: AI Basics: Targeting priority

The Chinook is considered to be a low-risk threat to AI-controlled infantry units (0.3). The Chinook may be engaged by AI-controlled infantry depending on the situation and how many other (if any) active targets are within range.

AI-controlled ground vehicles and aircraft do not consider the Chinook to be a threat. They will usually ignore/not prioritise attacking it unless there are no other targets of opportunity within range (0.1/0.1).

Noise factor

Main article: AI Basics: Detection

The Chinook has an audible factor of 30.

Trivia

• The rear cargo door cannot be shut even in mid-flight.
• Both variants of the Chinook are the only helicopters in ArmA 2 that use a tandem-rotor configuration.
• Prior to the latest Steam version patches (as part of the CorePatch updates), British Chinook HC4s did not allow for passengers or the side window/rear door gunners to switch seats.
  • CorePatch also granted both Chinooks access to a RWR. Before the updates, Chinooks only had access to a MAWS and lacked a RWR.

Gallery

Rear gunner view. Note the low-mount M240 fitted to the ramp door.

Config/script references

CfgAmmo CfgMagazines CfgWeapons CfgVehicles .rvmat .bisurf Formulae

External links

• Wikipedia: Boeing CH-47F Chinook
• Wikipedia: Boeing Chinook (UK variants)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role and configuration

• MV-22 Osprey (USMC counterpart)
• CH-47D (U.S. predecessor, ArmA: CWA only)
• CH-67 Huron (NATO successor, ArmA 3: Helicopters only)

British Army - Vehicles (ArmA 2)
Wheeled	ATV • Jackal 2 MWMIK • Military Offroad • MTVR
Tracked	FV510 Warrior
Rotor-wing	Apache AH-1 • AH-11 Wildcat • Chinook HC4 • Merlin HC3
(Parenthesis) denote variants. Operation Arrowhead | British Armed Forces