Bell V-22 Osprey

The Bell/Boeing V-22 tiltrotor is a revolutionary, vertical and short take-off and land (V/STOL), multi-purpose aircraft with excellent high-speed cruise performance. This advanced technology rotorcraft performs a wide range of V/STOL missions as effectively as a conventional helicopter, while equally capable of achieving the long-range cruise efficiencies of a twin turbo prop aircraft. Within this challenge, the Joint Services (USMC, USN, USAF, USA) specified in detail the operational requirements of the V-22. The joint requirement defined missions, airframe size constraints, payload handling, and other operational capabilities required to meet the needs of all the U.S. Military.win turboprop aircraft.

Six Full Scale Development (FSD) airframes of the V-22 (i.e. prototypes) were produced, c/n D0001 - D0006; only five were fully completed, the sixth never having its wings mated was used for ground live fire ballistics tests at NAWC China Lake. Twelve additional airframes assigned BuNos 164389 - 164400 were cancelled and never built.

First flight of the Osprey was in March 19, 1989. During developing and testing between 1991 to 2000 there were four crashes resulting in 30 fatalities. The Marines finally activated its first operational squadron, VMM-263, in March 2006.

The tiltrotor aircraft is manufactured under a 50-50 strategic alliance between Bell Helicopter and Boeing. As of 2011, the V-22 Osprey program of record calls for 360 aircraft for the US Marine Corps, 50 for the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and 48 for the US Navy.

Bell/Boeing V-22 News archive As of 2014, Bell/Boeing has delivered 242 MV-22 to the USMC and 44 CV-22 to the USAF and it was announced that Japan, the first international customer, will receive first Osprey in 2020 and the US Navy CMV-22B variant will enter service around 2021.

On June 2020 was delivered the 400th Osprey (a CV-22 for USAF) with the global fleet having accumulated more than 500,000 flight hours.

As of 2023, 475 V-22s have been ordered and the fleet has surpassed the 700,000 flight hours.

The final MV-22 fuselage was rolled out in October 2025.

Boeing manufactures and integrates the fuselage, cockpit, avionics, and flight control systems. This work is primarily centered at the Boeing facility in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia).

Bell is Responsible for the wing, nacelles, rotors, drive system, tail surfaces, and aft ramp. Bell also performs the final assembly and flight testing at its facility in Amarillo, Texas