THE OSPREY'S FUTURE: V-22 Production Winds Down As Deployments Ramp Up.

• Author: Carberry, Sean

When the Army selected Bell Textron's tiltrotorV-280 as its Black Hawk replacement last year, many analysts expressed surprise that the service would go all in on a tiltrotor airframe given the checkered history of the V-22 Osprey flown by the Marine Corps and Special Operations Command and recently fledged by the Navy.

The V-22 platform, which is currently expected to fly until 2055, has experienced numerous fatal mishaps since two of the first five prototypes crashed in the early 1990s. Googling "V-22 accident" brings up a Wikipedia page "Accidents and incidents involving the V-22 Osprey." Other hits include harrowing videos of Osprey crashes.

Yet, the Osprey gradually found its wings, and today it is one of the Marine Corps' most visible and relied on platforms.

"Watching the V-22's arc has been pretty fascinating as it came in as a CH-46 replacement," said Marine Corps Col. Brian Taylor, V-22 joint program manager. "Initially it was used in kind of a traditional medium-lift helicopter role. And then once the capabilities of the platform really kind of started becoming more and more evident, I do think that we're seeing unbelievable growth in the roles and missions that the aircraft is being used for."

However--barring any further action from Congress--the Defense Department is ending procurement of V-22S in the 2023 budget, and once the last few aircraft are delivered in 2026, the production line will shut down.

The possible end of the production line comes as the Marines continue to find new missions for the aircraft. The initial expectation was for the V-22 to provide assault support: moving troops, equipment and logistics from sea bases to objective areas over long ranges, Taylor said.

"We're starting to see some new applications, especially like in airborne networking and other roles, where the range and the speed of the platform really provide a nice template or a canvas--so to speak--for the future capability people at the Marine Corps to help use the V-22 to enable force design," he continued.

The V-22 is essential to distributed operations envisioned under Force Design 2030, the Marine Corps' plan to organize and equip for maritime operations focusing on the Indo-Pacific, he said.

The programs of record for the services require a fleet of 360 Marine Corps MV-22S, 48 Navy CMV-22S and 56 Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22S.

"We're finally getting ourselves to the point where we've got all the aircraft fully fielded,"...