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 30 marines died.

In Februari 2012, Washington reported that it may sell V-22's to Israel, Canada and the United Arabian Emirates. This to continue production of the aircraft after 2018.


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.

Operators
1. United States
2. Israel

1. United States

United States Marine Corps

2012
In February 2012, Boeing noticed that 160 V-22 have been delivered to the US Military.

2013
On 13 June 2013, the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) ordered 99 V-22s (92x MV-22s for the US Marine Corps and 7 CV-22's for the USAF Special Operations Command.

The production of the osprey is now low but there have already manufactured tens of Ospreys. These aircraft 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.

USAF CV-22	USAF CV-22	USAF CV-22
USAF CV-22B (Dayton, 2017)
USMC MV-22
USMC MV-22 (MCAS Miramar 2018)

2. Israel

In November 2013 the US Secretary of Defense confirmed that the USG approved an Israeli order for 6 V-22 Ospreys. It is unknown if it will be the CV-22 or MV-22 version.

References

1. Bell Boeing Awarded Contract for 99 V-22 Osprey Tiltrotor Aircraft
2. US expedites Israeli order for six V-22 tiltrotors