Being a Wildcat at Eighty

摘要

At the beginning of the nineties, the Canadian Armed Forces operated no fewer than four different types of helicopters dedicated to utility, reconnaissance and combat support missions: the CH-118 Iroquois, used for SAR and transport, the CH-135 Twin Huey medium-lift helicopter, the CH-136 Kiowa light observation helicopter and the CH-147 Chinook, tasked with heavy lifting. In an effort to reduce operating costs, it was decided that the first three types would be replaced by a new multipurpose helicopter. The acquisition programme, dubbed UTTH (Utility Tactical Transport Helicopter), was launched accordingly. Furthermore, it was announced that the Chinook was to be withdrawn from service without being replaced. The nearly-immediate retirement of the CH-147 in 1991 came as a surprise and was a blow to the heavy lifting capabilities of the Canadian Armed Forces. That blow was so severely felt in Afghanistan that a stopgap CH-47D buy from US stocks was announced before fifteen new-generation CH-147F Chinooks were delivered from June 2013 to June 2014 to fill the void.