V-22 Osprey

The V-22 Osprey is a junction between a helicopter and a airplane and has been developed by the American companies Boeing and Bell. There are 2 versions: the MV-22 for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the CV-22 for the United States Air Force (USAF). By the USMC the Osprey will replace the CH-46E Sea Knight. With the USAF the Osprey will replace the MH-53 Pave Low from the Special Operations Command.

The development had some suspension and they have been thinking to stop the whole V-22 project. This because there have been a lot of tragic accidents where a lot of died.

Characteristics
The helicopter can land and take-off vertical and can fly as a normal airplane. The Osprey can fly twice as hard than the old CH-46 Sea Knight. The maximum fly height is about the 8 Km. With this the Osprey is less sensitive in dangerous fields. A limitation in Afghanistan was that the CH-46 couldn't fly high into the mountains, the V-22 solves this. The V-22 is be able to carry 24 fully equipped marines instead of the Sea Knight with a maximum between the 12 and 18 marines. The V-22 can fly with one time refueling 3.800 Km. With this the Osprey is be able to fly itself's to far-away field (instead of the CH-46).
The V-22 can be refueled by a airplane but the more new Ospreys will get a retractile boom.

United States Marine Corps
The production of the osprey is now low but there have already manufactured tens of Ospreys. These aircrafts are used for test flying. In 2005 started the operational evaluation. In this test they will test all the V-22 capabilities like: flying of 3.800 Km, operations in desert environments, attack operations with groundforces, operations with extern loads.
When the operational evaluation is completed successfully the V-22 Osprey will come in full production.
The USMC wants to replace 22 CH-46E squadrons with each 12 Osprey's. They also want to replace 3 CH-53D squadrons by the Osprey.