 The continued operation of the fleet was made more cost effective when <unk> and support regimes were altered in 2006 – 7 . On 15 December 2009 the British government announced its Future Helicopter Strategy including the purchase of 24 new build Chinooks , 22 to expand the force and two to replace losses in Afghanistan , to be delivered to the Royal Air Force from 2012 . The number of additional Chinooks was cut to 12 with the October 2010 defence review , however . This will bring the total fleet size to 60 aircraft ; as of 2009 , the RAF had 48 Chinooks in inventory . 
