Thousands of Delaware County jobs are now caught in a Washington budget tug-of-war over Boeing's Chinook helicopter line in Ridley Township. The Army has not announced a shutdown, but a proposed funding reset could put the Ridley Park workforce — and the suppliers that feed it — at risk.
CBS Philadelphia reported Thursday that local jobs could be jeopardized if Boeing's Chinook program is reduced or canceled. The immediate concern centers on the Army's fiscal 2027 budget request and the future of the CH-47F Block II modernization effort.
In written testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon said the Army is seeking to cancel the program for the second time. She said zeroing out Block II funding would threaten 3,700 workers in her district and tens of thousands more at more than 320 suppliers nationwide, while the stop-start procurement cycle has already caused layoffs at the Ridley Park facility, according to Scanlon's testimony.
That warning lands differently because the same program was presented as job insurance just two years ago. In February 2024, Scanlon's office said the Army's decision to enter Block II production would support nearly 4,000 jobs and more than 20 years of work at Boeing's Ridley Park facility.
Why Ridley Park Is So Exposed
Boeing says its 350-acre Ridley Park site employs more than 4,000 people and includes the H-47 Chinook assembly line, along with other vertical-lift programs. The company also says Chinook production is expected to continue into the 2030s, underscoring the gap between the plant's long-term industrial plans and the Army's current budget fight, as detailed by Boeing.
Army budget documents paint a more complicated picture. The fiscal 2027 production schedule lists Boeing Philadelphia at a minimum sustaining rate of 18 helicopters and says procurement funding supports the Army common portion of MH-47G and CH-47F Block II work; however, the same budget book shows zero fiscal 2027 advance-procurement dollars in the relevant CH-47 line, according to the Army's budget documents.
The Chinook Line Is Still Running For Now
The program remains active in the near term. In May, the Army awarded Boeing's Ridley Park operation a $326.05 million contract for six remanufactured CH-47F Block II helicopters, bringing the number under contract to 24, according to the U.S. Army.
Army officials also said in June that delivery of the final Block I aircraft marked a shift toward Block II production, not the end of the Chinook line, as reported by Army aviation officials. The next test for Ridley Park will be whether Congress restores steady Block II funding in the fiscal 2027 defense bill before the current production pipeline thins out.
