The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Wednesday sought details from American defence manufacturer Boeing regarding the reason behind the grounding of the US Army’s entire fleet of Chinook helicopters.
The IAF operates a 15-fleet Boeing manufactured Chinook helicopters purchased from the US. They were inducted into service in March 2019.
Government officials were quoted by ANI as saying, “Indian Air Force's 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.”
According to reports in local media, the entire fleet of CH-47 Chinook choppers was grounded by the US army due a risk of engine fires.
Quoting US Army officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that they were aware of a small number of engine fires with the helicopters. The incidents did not result in any injuries or deaths, they mentioned.
It may be noted that the Indian fleet of Chinook choppers is based out of Chandigarh for operations in the north while another unit is in Assam to tackle issues arising in the northeastern states.
