Rotorcraft manufacturer Bell expects to deliver the final CV-22 variant Osprey tiltrotor for the US Air Force (USAF) in the coming months, as the company moves toward winding down production on the pioneering aircraft.
The concluding CV-22 example is undergoing final assembly at Bell’s tiltrotor assembly line in Amarillo, Texas. Its delivery will mark the completion of the USAF programme of record of 56 Ospreys.
“As we reach this milestone of CV-22 production we embark on the next chapter of our journey as we transition from full-rate production to fleet-wide sustainment,” says Eldon Metzger, Bell’s V-22 programme director.
The air force is the first of USA’s three V-22 operators to complete its Osprey acquisition. Although Bell says it continues to produce MV-22s for the US Marine Corps, that fleet is nearly complete with some 348 examples in service in the medium-lift role.
New Osprey production is currently set to continue through the end of 2027, primarily churning out CMV-22B Ospreys for the US Navy. These will replace the long-serving Grumman C-2A Greyhound fixed-wing turboprops in the carrier onboard delivery role, resupplying the navy’s floating airfields at sea.
The USAF’s CV-22s provide long-range infiltration and exfiltration support to Washington’s various special operations forces. Increased fuel capacity compared to the standard MV-22 gives the air force variant additional range needed to support those unique missions.
The CV-22 holds the distinction of supporting the longest-distance hostage rescue flight conducted at night by the US military – a 2020 sortie in Africa involving the USAF’s 58th Special Operations Wing.
The aircraft has a chequered safety record, including a high-profile crash in 2023 off the coast of Japan that killed eight USAF personnel. The joint tiltrotor fleet has been repeatedly grounded for mechanical issues, most recently last December after a so-called “near crash” in the state of New Mexico.
Between 1991 and 2022, V-22s suffered 36 accidents, according to the Aviation Safety Network, a service of US non-profit Flight Safety Foundation.
In February, the Pentagon revealed two programmes aimed at addressing mechanical weakness within the Osprey design. One effort is targeting “component reliability and durability” in the proprotor gearbox, while another seeks to redesign a gearbox subcomponent called the input quill assembly.
A range of more standard overhaul and modernisation work is also planned, which will keep the joint Bell-Boeing team supplied with work.
As Osprey production winds down at Amarillo over the next 18 months, the site will begin transitioning to the US Army’s next-generation tiltrotor, which Bell also plans to assemble at Amarillo.
Six test examples of that aircraft are under contract, with the first low-rate production example set to enter operational service by 2030.
