The V-22 Osprey is unique among the world’s aircraft in combining the vertical agility of a helicopter with the speed and range of a turboprop airplane. It accomplishes this feat by tilting its twin engines after takeoff so that the rotors are faced forward rather than upward.
It’s a simple idea that contractors Boeing
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The Marine Corps has transformed its operations by replacing conventional helicopters with the V-22. Air Force special operators have used a longer-range variant to execute missions that previously were not feasible. And the Navy is replacing the turboprops that supplied aircraft carriers at sea with its own version.
There isn’t much doubt that the Navy version of Osprey is a big improvement over the “carrier onboard delivery” planes it replaces. For instance, the CMV-22B, as it is formally designated, can airlift an F-35 fighter engine to the carrier, which the previous aircraft could not do.
A Navy CMV-22B logistics aircraft in testing.
It also has the ability to carry cargo to the smaller warships in a carrier strike group, rather than requiring the cargo to be reloaded onto helicopters on the carrier deck. And because it can take off and land vertically, it doesn’t require the jarring use of catapults that other carrier-based aircraft employ. That might matter a lot if you are a casualty being transported to shore.
It is abundantly clear that “tiltrotor” technology has been a boon to the joint force. However, like other novel technology, it takes time to figure out all the ways it might be used. And therein lies a dilemma for the Navy.
As the last service to acquire the Osprey, the Navy will decide when its production ceases. Once the Navy has met its requirement for the aircraft, manufacture of new airframes will cease. A supply chain of 500+ contractors will disband, and from that point on the services will have to make do with the aircraft they have bought.
At the moment, the Navy thinks it has purchased all the Ospreys it needs—basically three for each carrier air wing, plus various additional tiltrotors for training and other purposes. That is less than 50 Ospreys in all, just as the sea service is beginning to embark on a new approach to deploying the fleet called Distributed Maritime Operations.
Even if we ignore the fact that the Marine Corps recommended four Ospreys per air wing rather than three, there are reasons to suspect the Navy will realize its needs more of the aircraft than it has ordered. If it doesn’t grasp that fact soon, there will be no production line left from which to obtain them.
The makings of a shortfall were built into the original Navy requirement, when the service specified that it would need tiltrotors mainly to support sea-based logistics for carrier strike groups. The Navy deserves credit for recognizing the superior potential of tiltrotors is providing carrier onboard delivery, but there are other missions not included in the requirement that inevitably will demand use of tiltrotors in the future.
For starters, the fleet will be more scattered in the future, and thus an Osprey dispatched to a carrier may not be able to reach the other warships operating in an area—despite its extended range. And tiltrotors will likely play an increasingly central role in supplying amphibious warships carrying Marines, which typically operate independently of carrier strike groups.
Beyond the need to provide logistical support to warships at sea—sometimes in contested environments—there are other missions like search and rescue, medical evacuation, and reconnaissance for which Ospreys are better suited than other available aircraft. The ability to fly over 1,000 miles at a speed of nearly 300 miles per hour and then land on a dime guarantees the Navy will find other ways of using its tiltrotors besides performing logistical functions.
Unfortunately, none of this is included in the Navy’s formal requirement for its version of the V-22, and consequently future commanders will have to choose between supporting a carrier, resupplying a marine expeditionary unit, searching for downed pilots beyond the reach of regular helicopters, or evacuating wounded in urgent need of medical care ashore.
Obviously, a fleet of 40-odd Ospreys scattered around the globe isn’t sufficient to do all these things, especially when we subtract the aircraft that will be in maintenance on any give day. And that’s before we even get to the subject of wartime attrition.
A more reasonable production goal for the Navy variant of Osprey would be 70, based on modeling of what wartime needs might demand. That’s roughly two dozen more tiltrotors than the Navy will have when the production line shuts down in two years if the program remains on its current funding profile.
This seems like a situation where Congress has a role to play. It has been buying more Ospreys than the Pentagon requested for some time, but now the program’s denouement approaches: without added funding, the production line shuts down—probably forever.
It goes without saying that any such shutdown would weaken the domestic rotorcraft industrial base. Boeing’s sprawling industrial complex near Philadelphia—the biggest in the lower Delaware region—faces multiple uncertainties going forward, and has already suffered two rounds of layoffs. Losing V-22 production would be a further setback.
The Bell/Textron sites in Amarillo and Fort Worth may be rescued by an Army award for its own tiltrotor, but that is an aircraft that must be developed and tested; in the absence of V-22 production, it isn’t so clear what line workers will do until the Army’s new rotorcraft is ready for primetime.
So Congress can do America’s warfighters and thousands of V-22 workers a favor by once again stepping in to bolster this program. If it doesn’t, the Osprey will go out of production, and any new operational demands on tiltrotors will have to be met at the expense of other missions for which it was acquired.
This really is the last chance to buy an adequate fleet of aircraft for a program that is expected to remain in service through 2055.
As noted above Boeing and Bell/Textron both contribute to my think tank.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2023/04/06/v-22-osprey-production-is-headed-for-a-premature-shutdown-if-congress-doesnt-act/