Bell Textron has delivered the first CMV-22B for fleet operations to the U.S. Navy.
The V-22 is based at Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30 at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.
“This first fleet delivery marks a new chapter of the V-22 Tiltrotor program providing enhanced capabilities and increased flexibility to the U.S. Navy as they conduct important operational missions around the globe,” said Shane Openshaw, Boeing vice president of Tiltrotor Programs and deputy director of the Bell Boeing team.
This aircraft is the third overall delivery to the U.S. Navy. Bell Boeing delivered the first CMV-22B at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in February for developmental testing, followed by a second in May. The Navy variant V-22 will take over the Carrier Onboard Delivery Mission, replacing the C-2A Greyhound.
“We are thrilled to bring the Osprey’s capabilities as a warfighting enabler and its ability to provide time sensitive logistics to the men and women deployed around the world in support of U.S. Navy operations,” said Kurt Fuller, Bell V-22 vice president and Bell Boeing program director.
The CMV-22B and C-2A greyhound conducted a symbolic passing of the torch flight in
The CMV-22B carries up to 6,000 pounds of cargo and combines the vertical takeoff, hover and landing (VTOL) qualities of a helicopter with the long-range, fuel efficiency and speed characteristics of a turboprop aircraft.
This is what the Royal Navy need!
COD.
AEW.
AAR.
Commando assault.
To categorize the need of numbers for RN.
COD/Logistics: /
}9
Air to air refueling:
AEW: 6
Commando assault: 6
It would make a great deal of sense to purchase these without a doubt.
Are you forgetting the existence of money and budget? Especially with current circumstances and leadership.
Hence the reason for the sentence starting with, “It would” make a great deal of sense to purchase these without a doubt!
The COD version is being sold to the US Navy at around $70 million, which twice the cost of a new build CH47F Chinook.
The CMV-22 are $105 million each, including initial spares package.
Possibly, but Bell have said the basic airframe price is $70million.
Indonesia has just bought 8x MV-22
8 MV-22 for Indonesia are $2 billion. That includes spares, training, tech support & ferry including tankers.
It also goes twice as far, twice as fast and with the folding wing structure takes up half the space on the carrier… For these reasons alone the government would never invest in anything so practical and useful.
I do wonder if Bell have started looking at a replacement for the V22? A more up to date version, designed with the lessons learnt in building the V280 Valor. The Valor will be built with a fully marinized airframe designed for the US Navy and USMC, which includes the folding prop-rotors and spinning the main-wing through 90 degrees to decrease its footprint. I can see the USMC buying the Valor, even if does not win the FLAA competition, due to its range and speed over the Defiant.
One of the biggest advantages the Valor has over the V22, is how the prop-rotors are swiveled through 90 degrees. On the V22 the whole engine, gearbox and rotor mechanism is swung, whilst on the Valor the engine and gearbox is fixed and only the rotor mechanism is swung through 90 degrees. Why is this important? As the above picture shows, the V22’s engine exhausts are only 3ft above the ground. The hot gas burns the area below it, but more important throws up a lot of debris and dust. This gets recirculated into the engine’s intake, wearing away at the engine’s compressor blades and stators. BAe had designed a filter system for the intake, but it doesn’t work very well. The Valor has the engine fixed horizontally to the main wing some 8ft above the ground, so the exhaust plume is blown backwards and not at the ground, therefore not kicking up dust that can be sucked back into the engine. It will still need some kind of intake filter though, as the prop-rotors when tilted upwards will still kick up dust in the hover and when on the ground, just not as much as the V22.
The other benefit the Valor has over the V22, is the wing itself. Bell have designed a fully composite one piece wing that is comparable in size, but half the weight of the V22’s. The wing is now straight and not swept forward, allowing a finer aspect ratio for less drag. It also means there is no longer a need for a center gearbox for the in-wing driveshafts, saving 292 lb (132kg) in weight. The prop-rotors are nearly the same length as the V22s. Therefore, for an aircraft that weighs just under half that of the V22, its disk loading is significantly less, which means the downwash is significantly less. Apparently the Osprey’s high disk loading was due to limitations placed on the prop-rotor diameter. Which was determined by the constraints when operating from from Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships. The V22 was required to taxi past the superstructure of the ship, with its rotors no less than 12ft 8 inches (3.9m) away from the “island” and its outboard tyres at least 5ft inboard from the edge of the deck. The V-22’s prop-rotors could be no more than 38ft (12 m) in diameter — about 5ft less than ideal for an aircraft that size, according to engineers working on the project at the time. If the aircraft had a longer wing with the corresponding larger diameter prop-motors, the disk loading would be much lower. It would also allow it to fly further, but also lift more in the hover.
By comparison, the Chinook which was never really designed for shipboard use. When operating off the Invincible class carriers, you had to place the inner (starboard) wheels on the outer white line on the Harrier strip. This meant your outer (port) wheels were only 4ft from the edge of the walkway near the ship’s edge. Therefore, the rotor blades when turning were about 6ft-ish from the island. The was more space between the rotor blades and island on Ocean though! On the QE the deck size is awesome, though you would never want to, you can put a Wildcat (blades in flight position) between the Chinook and Island with room to spare.
The V22 was / is the first generation tilt rotor with all of its first of kind teething problems. I suspect that a larger version of the Valor will be produced in the future to replace the Osprey and probably the Chinook. The U.S. Army already sees the future and has tried to stop production of the Chinook but has been prevented by the lobby and their paid congressional lobby…
Cheers! 😀
Yes, the news that the US Army was cancelling the Block 2 CH47F buy didn’t make much headlines. But it should be seen as what it is, the US Army require an aircraft that can keep up with the Valor/Defiant FVL requirement. The Chinook simply won’t be able to keep up, as its speed is limited, due to its aft rotor head not having enough forward pitch movement.
The US Army are their own design authority and will upgrade a significant number of existing model Fs. But this won’t appease the Senate and the Boeing lobbyists.