Helicopter manufacturer Helicopter manufacturer Helicopter manufacturers belong to the broader category of aerospace manufacturers. It is useful to think of helicopter manufacturers as falling into two categories, those that can design, certify and manufacture new helicopter designs from scratch and those that can only manufacture extant designs under license. Boeing Vertol is an example of the first type and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, who license-produced Boeing Vertol designs for much of its recent history, is an example of the second type. The peace dividend at the end of the Cold War and the increased cost of developing new helicopters has seen a consolidation
Boeing CH-47 Chinook in June 2005 with all aboard killed, including a 16-member U.S. Special Operations team. In May 2011, an Australian Army CH-47D crashed during a resupply mission in Zabul Province, resulting in one fatality and five survivors. The helicopter was unable to be recovered and was destroyed in place. To compensate for the loss, the ADF added two ex-U.S. Army CH-47Ds to the fleet which are expected to be in service until the introduction of the CH-47Fs in 2016. Since the type's inception, the Chinook has carried out secondary missions including medical evacuation, disaster relief, search and rescue, aircraft recovery, fire