V-22 Osprey Team Focuses on January Operational Evaluation

By RICHARD R. BURGESS
Managing Editor

There are no showstoppers in sight as the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor heads toward operational evaluation, the final exam to determine if new military aircraft are operationally suitable and effective.

Full-rate production of new aircraft is not permitted until they pass the test. That huge hurdle in the development program is scheduled for January 2005. To ensure that Osprey earns its wings, the program office is preparing for an interim step called an operational assessment.

Air Force Col. Craig Olson said the assessment was originally scheduled for May, but as of mid-March had been delayed to enable the program office to shore up details such as ensuring the V-22 testing unit’s pilots had accrued enough flight experience in the V-22. A new assessment date will be determined in the near future.

Olson told Sea Power that the operational evaluation is on track for January 2005. “Our entire focus this year is getting VMX-22 [Marine Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 22, the joint V-22 test squadron] postured for a successful operational evaluation.”

VMX-22, activated at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., in August 2003, has three MV-22Bs in its inventory and will be accepting one Osprey per month for the remainder of 2004. Three new V-22 cockpit simulators also are now in place at New River.

The V-22 Integrated Test Team, composed of contractor personnel and Marine Corps, Air Force and civilian officials, has a full set of nine test aircraft, including seven Marine Corps MV-22Bs and two Air Force Special Operations CV-22Bs. An additional test CV-22B is halfway through modification and scheduled to be delivered to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in November.

The test team is scheduled to conduct Phase IV of the shipboard suitability trials this spring. The tests will focus on interaction between Ospreys in a shipboard environment and “validating the aircraft’s ability to work from adjacent spots” on an amphibious assault ship, said Ward Carroll, government spokesman for the V-22 team.

One MV-22B — staged to Halifax, Nova Scotia, since November 2003 — is scheduled to return in late April from anti-icing trials, to assess the ability of the aircraft to operate in icing conditions. Olson termed the anti-icing trials “a very successful test period.”

The self-deploying qualities of the V-22 with its high speed and long range have the domino effect of reducing the cost and quantity of logistical support required to respond to a crisis, Olson said. Among the benefits is that reliance on foreign bases would be greatly reduced, and, in some cases, negated, according to scenario studies conducted by the Center for Naval Analyses, a Washington think tank.

The Osprey — which can carry 24 troops in full combat gear — “gets troops on the ground faster at a much greater range” to areas much farther inland than can be accomplished by the helicopters in service today, according to Olson. The V-22 also can operate in high terrain — such as that found in Afghanistan — more easily than many of the current military helicopters.

The V-22 program team has been investing in cost-reduction measures since 2001 to reach a target unit cost of $58 million (in fiscal year 2010 dollars) per aircraft. That target was determined by a Bell-

Boeing market study of the threshold at which other potential customers, such as the National Guard and foreign militaries, would consider the Osprey affordable. The lot currently in production, Lot 6, is incurring costs of $74 million per copy.

Olson said meeting the target unit cost will depend on future measures, such as those being planned for the fiscal 2006 Department of Defense budget, including Congressional approval of multiyear production funding.

The first Marine Medium Tiltrotor (VMM) Squadron will be redesignated in 2006 from one of the CH-46-equipped Marine Medium Helicopter Squadrons based at New River. Each MV-22B squadron would require 12 months to make the transition from older aircraft, followed by four to six months of tactical training before being ready to deploy. Each operational MV-22B squadron will be equipped with 12 aircraft.

Hurlburt Field — near Eglin Air Force Base — in Florida will be the first operational site for the Air Force CV-22B version, which is scheduled to achieve initial operational capability in late 2008.

The Marine Corps and the Air Force have stated a requirement for 360 MV-22s and 50 CV-22s, respectively. A total of 152 Ospreys are planned for production through fiscal 2009. The Navy has stated a requirement for 48 HV-22 combat search-and-rescue versions, but has not yet requested funding. The Navy also is considering adapting the Osprey as a recovery tanker to refuel jets returning to an aircraft carrier.

In February, Bell-Boeing was awarded an $849.3 million contract to build eight MV-22Bs and three CV-22Bs as Lot 9 of low-rate initial production. The company also was awarded a $78.5 million contract modification to continue engineering improvements to the Osprey.

Regarding the recurring issue of armament for the V-22, the Naval Air Systems Command and Bell-Boeing have begun a study to consider in parallel the M3M ramp-mounted .50-caliber machine gun and the more easily adaptable 7.62mm M240G machine gun. Installation of the M3M on the Osprey would depend upon whether major changes to the aircraft’s ramp would be required.