V-22 OSPREY TILTS ROTOR AIRCRAFT

V-22 OSPREY tilts rotor aircraft



V-22 OSPREY tilts rotor aircraft

Introduction

The V-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter and flies forward like an airplane. Department of Defense (DOD) plans call for procuring a total of 458 V- 22s—360 MV-22s for the Marine Corps; 50 CV-22 special operations variants for U.S. Special Operations Command, or USSOCOM (funded jointly by the Air Force and USSOCOM); and 48 HV-22s for the Navy. Through FY2009, a total of 181 V-22s have been procured—155 MV-22s for the Marine Corps and 26 CV-22s for USSOCOM.

These totals include several V-22s that have been procured in recent years through supplemental appropriations bills. V-22s are currently being procured under a $10.4 billion, multiyear procurement (MYP) arrangement covering the period FY2008-FY2012. The MYP contract, which was awarded on March 28, 2008, covers the procurement of 167 aircraft—141 MV-22s and 26 CV-22s. The proposed FY2010 budget requested funding for the procurement of 30 MV-22s and five CV- 22s. The budget requested about $2.3 billion in procurement and advance procurement funding for procurement of MV-22s, and about $565 million in procurement and advance procurement funding for procurement of CV-22s. For FY2010, the V-22 program poses potential a number of potential oversight issues for Congress, including the aircraft's reliability and maintainability (Bert, 1996).

Background

The V-22 in Brief

The V-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter and flies forward like an airplane. For taking off and landing, the aircraft's two wingtip-mounted engine nacelles are rotated (i.e., tilted) upward, so that the rotors function like a helicopter's rotor blades. For forward flight, the nacelles are rotated 90 degrees forward, so that the rotors function like an airplane's propellers. The Navy states that the V-22 “performs VTOL [vertical takeoff and landing] missions as effectively as a conventional helicopter while also having the long-range cruise abilities of a twin turboprop aircraft.”

The MV-22 is designed to transport 24 fully equipped Marines at a cruising speed of about 250 knots (about 288 mph), exceeding the performance of the Marine Corps CH-46 medium-lift assault helicopters that MV-22s are to replace. The CV-22 has about 90% airframe commonality with the MV-22; the primary differences between the two variants are in their avionics. The CV- 22 is designed to carry 18 troops, with auxiliary fuel tanks increasing the aircraft's combat radius to about 500 miles (Thom, 2002).

Cost and Funding

Total Program Cost

DOD in February 2008 estimated the total acquisition cost of a 458-aircraft V-22 program at about $53.3 billion in then-year dollars, including about $9.9 billion for research and development, about $43.1 billion for procurement, and $262 million for military construction. The program was estimated to have a program acquisition unit cost, or PAUC (which is total acquisition cost divided by the number of aircraft), of about $116.3 million and an average procurement unit cost, or APUC (which is procurement cost divided by the number of aircraft), of about ...