The CH-47Ds have become surplus since the Netherlands took delivery of 20 F-model Chinooks through a U.S. Foreign Military Sales deal.
ATLANTA—The Netherlands Defense Ministry is selling off six of its retired Boeing CH-47D Chinook transport helicopters to a U.S. operator.
Montana-based Billings Flying Service is planning to use the tandem rotorcraft for firefighting missions. The sale of the helicopters was approved by the Netherlands’ Defense Materiel Sales Committee in December. A contract with Billings is now due to be signed later this month.
The CH-47Ds have become surplus since the Netherlands took delivery of 20 F-model Chinooks through a Foreign Military Sales deal; the twentieth aircraft was delivered in November 2022. Chinooks are increasingly in-demand for the firefighting mission because of their payload capacity, but only a handful of Commercial Chinooks—the Boeing Vertol Model 234—remain in operation, and few U.S. Army Chinooks have been auctioned off for commercial use.
According to its website, Billings currently operates seven CH-47Ds—purchased surplus from the U.S. Army—as well as a single UH-60A. The Chinooks are mainly used for firefighting, but also for construction and disaster relief operations.
The Netherlands had considered transferring the helicopters for use by Ukraine, but the cockpit of the aircraft—a configuration only used by the Netherlands and Singapore—would have made it difficult to train Ukrainian crews, Dutch officials said.
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