Navy's V-22 buy sidesteps conventional procurement process.

• Position: From the National Defense Blog

* Aircraft manufacturers Bell-Boeing and Northrop Grumman two years ago were gearing up for a contentious battle for a prestigious Navy contract to replace aging cargo planes that shuttle passengers and supplies to and from aircraft carriers.

But the competition never got under way. The Navy instead opted to buy Bell-Boeing's V-22 Ospreys under an existing $6.5 billion five-year contract that the company signed with the Marine Corps in 2013. Navy officials determined this was the better choice and decided against Northrop Grumman's recommendation to remanufacture the existing fleet of 35 C-2 Greyhound cargo aircraft.

The Navy will buy a total of 44 V-22 aircraft beginning in fiscal 2018 to eventually replace the C-2 fleet. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in fiscal 2020 at eight aircraft per year, said Navy spokesman Lt. Robert Myers.

The selection of the V-22 to become the future "carrier onboard delivery" aircraft is unusual in that it did not follow the traditional military acquisitions process of competitive bidding and source selection reviews. The choice was made known...