US Army Special Operations Command's workhorse helicopter is getting upgrades to replace parts that are nearly 50 years old

• The Chinook has been the US Army's workhorse transport helicopter for decades.
• US special operators rely on their variant, the MH-47, for missions at night and behind enemy lines.
• The Pentagon recently awarded a contract to replace aging parts on the newest version, the MH-47G.

The Chinook has been the US Army's workhorse transport helicopter for decades, and US special operators have long relied on their variant, the MH-47, for nighttime raids and missions far behind enemy lines.

The Chinook was a mainstay of the counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past two decades. The MH-47G, the latest version, could also be valuable in a conventional conflict with near-peer adversaries, like China and Russia.