US Army grounds its entire fleet of Chinook choppers;IAF seeks details
   Date :01-Sep-2022

Chinook choppers 
 
 
 
NEW DELHI/ WASHINGTON, 
 
THE US Army has grounded its entire fleet of Chinook helicopters, a battlefield workhorse since the 1960s, over the risk of engine fires, a US media report said on Tuesday.
‘The Wall Street Journal’, which broke the story, said such an extreme step was taken out of abundance of caution.
The Indian Air Force has sought details from American defence manufacturer Boeing about the reasons behind the grounding of the US Army’s entire fleet of Chinook helicopters.
India has about 15 CH-47 Chinook helicopters. Over the past few years, they have emerged as one of the major military tools for airlift operations in places like Ladakh and Siachen glaciers to assist Indian forces deployed in these regions. India received the first batch of Chinook helicopters in February 2019. Boeing completed the delivery of 15 Chinook helicopters to the Indian Air Force in 2020.
“Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter fleet is still operational. India has sought details of the reasons which have led to the grounding of the entire fleet of US Army’s Chinook CH-47 helicopters because of a risk of engine fires,” Government officials said when asked about the grounding of the American Army fleet.
Officials told the ‘Wall Street Journal’ that the US Army was aware of a small number of engine fires in the helicopters, and the incidents didn’t result in any injuries or deaths.
“One of the officials said the fires occurred in recent days,” the Journal said. “The US Army Materiel Command grounded the fleet of hundreds of helicopters out of an abundance of caution.”