Inside IAF's multi role chopper Chinook

New Delhi: The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is an American twin-engine multi-mission, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. Its primary roles are to troop movement, artillery, ammunition, heavy construction and civil development, fuel, water, barrier materials and supplies and equipment on the battlefield.Its secondary roles include heavy construction and civil development, medical evacuation, search and rescue, aircraft recovery, fire fighting, parachute drops and disaster relief. It has three external-cargo hooks and wide loading ramp at the rear of the fuselage The helicopter is faster than contemporary utility and attack helicopters of the 1960s with a top speed of 170 knots (196 mph, 315 km/h).Chinook is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name is from the Native American Chinook people. Chinook helicopters were designed and initially produced by Boeing Vertol in the early 1960s. It is now produced by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems. It is one of the few aircraft of that era – Along with the fixed-wing Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft – that remain in production and front-line service, with over 1,179 built to date.The helicopter has been sold to 16 nations with the U.S. Army and the Royal Air Force (see Boeing Chinook (UK variants)) its largest users.More powerful and improved versions of the CH-47 have been developed since the helicopter entered service. The The U.S. Army's first major design CH-47Ds were delivered in 1982 and were produced until 1994.Improvements from the CH-47C included upgraded engines, composite rotor blades, a redesigned cockpit to reduce pilot workload, improved and redundant electrical systems, an advanced flight control system and improved avionics. The latest mainstream generation is the CH-47F, which features several major upgrades to reduce maintenance, digitized flight controls, and is powered by two 4,733-horsepower Honeywell engines.Chinook played a major role in the Vietnam war and has been the mainstay of the American forces in Afghanistan. India wants to ink a deal for six Chinook heavy-duty helicopters. A half-dozen CH-47 Chinooks, a twin-engined helicopter capable of carrying 50 troops or 6.5 metric tonnes of cargo, will carry a price tag of about $500 million (`3,200 crore).The induction of the Chinooks will confirm the Stars and Stripes look of the Indian Air Force's airlift capabilities. India has already bought C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster heavy-lift airplanes. India will be the 17th air force in the world to use Chinooks.