Future Outlook Bright as Osprey Flies Through DOD Review

By RICHARD R. BURGESS
Managing Editor

The future of the V-22 Osprey received a significant boost with the finding of the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) that the test program of the revolutionary tiltrotor aircraft is "proceeding very well" and that "progress is sufficient to consider increasing the production rate above the minimum sustaining rate."

The DAB--chaired by E.C. Aldridge Jr., under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics--met on 20 May 2003 to review the status of the Osprey program and concluded that the V-22 "is satisfying the threshold levels for all of its key performance parameters and reliability and maintainability metrics."

An Acquisition Decision Memorandum issued by the DAB on 23 May--the day Aldridge left office--stated that the technical progress shown during flight testing confirms that the aircraft:

* Is capable of safe and reliable operations in the flight envelope, avoiding vortex ring state conditions;

* Possesses combat maneuverability superior to that of helicopters;

* Can be effective in formation flying;

* Possesses acceptable handling qualities in low-speed flight with crosswinds;

* Has demonstrated dynamic shipboard compatibility; and

* Is compatible with pilot techniques developed for the mitigation of degraded visual cueing in austere landing environments.

Aldridge directed that Team Osprey--the V-22 Integrated Product Team--define options for more efficient or increased production and for enhanced capabilities--including interoperability with Link 16 and the Joint Tactical Radio System. He also directed the team to revise budget estimates for the program.

The V-22 has been going through an event-driven flight-test program since May 2002, when the MV-22B version returned to flight after being grounded for 17 months. The Osprey was grounded in December 2000 after the second of two fatal mishaps that year.

"This [the DAB finding] indicates, we believe, renewed confidence in the V-22 as demonstrated by the success of the aircraft during its return-to-flight program," a Bell Boeing Team Osprey official said in a statement responding to the announcement. "All of us who are part of the Bell Boeing team are enormously proud of the tremendous strides made over the past two years."

In a related development, the Naval Air Systems Command awarded an $817 million contract to Bell Boeing on 15 May 2003 for long-lead work and materials for the fiscal year 2004 Lot VIII low-rate initial production of 11 Ospreys--nine MV-22Bs for the Marine Corps and two CV-22B special operations variants for the Air Force. In April 2003, Rolls-Royce was awarded a $42.5 million contract for the production of 22 engines for the Osprey.

The FY 2004 defense authorization bills passed earlier this year by the House and Senate approved the expenditure next year of $1.1 billion for the V-22 program.

The Marine Corps plans to procure 360 MV-22Bs to replace its fleet of CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters. The Air Force expects to acquire 50 CV-22Bs--through the U.S. Special Operations Command--to replace its MH-53 Pave Low special operations helicopters. The Navy has expressed interest in acquiring 48 HV-22Bs in the latter stages of the program.

In another development, the commandant of the Marine Corps has ordered the activation of a test squadron dedicated solely to the continued development of the V-22. On 17 April 2003, Gen. Michael W. Hagee directed that Marine Tiltrotor Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 22 (VMX-22) be activated before the end of FY 2003 at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. VMX-22 will assume responsibility--from Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1)--for the operational test and evaluation of the V-22 and future tiltrotor systems and will carry out its role under the direction of the commander of the Navy's Operational Test and Evaluation Force.

New River also is the home base of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron 204 (VMMT-204), the training squadron for the V-22. VMMT-204 expects to resume training pilots and crew for the MV-22B sometime during FY 2004.

In yet another positive development for the program, the V-22 Integrated Test Team reached another milestone in April when Osprey No. 7, a CV-22B development aircraft, began test flights over Harpers Dry Lake Bed near Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., using the aircraft's terrain-following radar. The aircraft was flown at altitudes of 500 feet, then 300 feet, then at 200 feet, to test the reliability of the radar's warning, caution, and advisory subsystems.

During the initial six-month phase of flight tests of the terrain-following radar, the CV-22B is scheduled to be flown over low isolated peaks (500-foot vertical rise), then high isolated peaks (5,000-foot vertical rise), according to Ward Carroll, government spokesman for the V-22 program. During the next phase, the radar will be tested both at night and in instrument meteorological conditions.

"The ultimate goal is to fly without outside visual references," said Maj. Tom Goodnough, an Air Force test pilot for the CV-22B. "We need to be able to get through darkness, clouds, sandstorms, oil-fire smoke ... anything." *