The loading of two Spanish CH-47F Chinook helicopters on a Ukrainian Antonov An-124

@DefAviation ES 4·13·2024 · 19:28 0

The overseas deployment of Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy helicopters is always a logistical challenge worth seeing.

The delivery operation of a CH-47F Chinook helicopter to Spain with an American C-17
A Spanish Army Chinook helicopter shows its ability to operate in the snow

To ship these helicopters to Iraq, Spain has two means: the first is to take them aboard the "Juan Carlos I" L-61 aircraft of the Spanish Navy to Kuwait, as was done in 2018, and the second is to hire one of the huge Antonov An-124 Ruslan from the Ukrainian company Antonov Airlines, which carry out heavy cargo flights all over the world. This second option is much cheaper and faster.

The Spanish Army is going to deploy its new CH-47F Chinook in Iraq for the first time for the ISPUHEL XX contingent. The helicopters belong to the Transport Helicopter Battalion V (BHELTRA V). The Task Force Toro, formed by Spanish soldiers deployed at the Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, will have the Chinooks for the second time, but this time newly modernized. The Army has shown today the boarding of two of these helicopters on a Ukrainian An-124 from Antonov Airlines, in a fast-motion video:

You can see some screenshots of this video here. Here we see the An-124-100M opening its large front hatch.

Here we see the first of the CH-47F, the HT.17-30A ET-430, with the rotors already disassembled for shipment.

The rear rotor pylon is from the HT.17-30A, disassembled for shipment on the An-124.

The two helicopters lined up in front of the front hatch of the An-124. We see on the left the HT.17-29A ET-429, and on the right is the HT.17-30A, just in front of the plane. On the right we can see the pylons of the rear rotors of both helicopters.

The HT.17-30A at the time of shipment. The An-124 can carry up to 150 tons of cargo. Each CH-47F weighs 10,180 kg.

The HT.17-30A in the cargo hold of the An-124. The cargo hold of this aircraft measures 36.5 meters long, 6.4 meters wide and 4.4 meters deep. high. The fuselage of a CH-47F measures 16 meters long and 3.78 meters wide.

+ UPDATED 15.4.2024 18:32: Today the General Staff of the Defense has published the video of the arrival of the CH-47F to Iraq: