A five-year contract for the production and delivery of 99 V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft has been awarded to the Bell Boeing V-22 Program.
The partnership between Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing will produce 92 MV-22 models for the U.S. Marine Corps and seven CV-22 models for the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command.
The V-22 Osprey is a multirole combat aircraft that can take off, land and hover like a helicopter, and fly at high altitudes like a turboprop. More than 200 V-22 Ospreys are currently in operation and the worldwide fleet has amassed more than 185,000 flight hours, with half of those hours logged in the past three years.
The contract, which is estimated to be worth $6.5 billion, was awarded by U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). It contains a provision that allows NAVAIR to order up to 23 additional aircraft.
