Honeywell wins $476M contract to support engines on US Army’s Chinook fleet

Air March 11, 2021

Honeywell has secured a 4-year IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity) contract worth $476 million for new production and spare T55-GA-714A engines that power the US Army’s CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

The award will ensure that the US Army’s Chinook fleet has spare engines to support future missions and available engines for Boeing’s Philadelphia Production Line through 2024 to serve the US Army and foreign partner nations’ new aircraft requirements.

The engines will be assembled and tested at Honeywell’s production facility at the company’s Aerospace global headquarters in Phoenix.

Securing this engine production contract follows a milestone year for the T55 engine. In 2020, Honeywell won a competitive repair and overhaul contract for the T55. In addition, Honeywell completed a new, world-class engine repair and overhaul facility in Phoenix. That move allows the repair and overhaul work on the T55-GA-714A engine to be fulfilled in the same location as new engine production.

The T55 center of excellence provides for a shared workforce, facilities, and engineering resources between both engine lines and delivers up to 20 engines per month to the US Army, foreign military and commercial customers.

Also in 2020, Honeywell entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army to demonstrate and fly its upgraded T55-GA-714C engine on the heavy-lift, twin-engine CH-47F Chinook helicopter. The new 6,000-horsepower engine is 23% more powerful and consumes 9% less fuel than the current T55. New modifications also make the next-generation T55 easier to maintain with lower operating costs and increased readiness for the warfighter.

Work is ongoing now in phase 1 of the program, and ground and flight demonstrations are expected to begin in 2022. The new 714C variant of the T55 is designed to be affordably incorporated into the 714A as an upgrade kit during overhaul at Honeywell’s R&O Center of Excellence or at the Army’s Corpus Christi Army Depot.

The CH-47F Chinook helicopter is used by the US Army to support domestic and foreign operations by hauling troops and cargo all over the world. Since 1961, Honeywell has improved the horsepower of the T55 engine by 133%. Each improvement has decreased the engine’s fuel consumption and lowered the maintenance burden to increase aircraft readiness.

Steven Williams, Vice President of Defense Aftermarket, Honeywell Aerospace, said: “Supporting the U.S. Army Chinook Program is a bedrock principle for Honeywell Aerospace. Our mission is manufacturing, maintaining, and modernising T55 engines for the critical heavy-lift mission, and we take this mission seriously.

“We are very proud to continue our strong relationship with PEO Aviation, the US. Army and our warfighter.”