The United States Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force have signed a $1.2 billion contract with Rolls-Royce for engine maintenance of the Bell-Boeing V-22 fleet.

The United States Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force have signed a $1.2 billion contract with Rolls-Royce for engine maintenance of the Bell-Boeing V-22 fleet.

The five-year contract comes under R-R’s MissionCare services, and will cover the AE 1107C engines that power the tiltrotor fleet.

The deal will cover “all aspects of propulsion system support”, says R-R, on a per-flying-hour basis.

Cirium fleets data indicates that there are 342 V-22s in operation with the three entities — 50 CV-22s with an average age of 7.4 years old, and 292 MV-22s with an average age of 7.9 years old.

R-R assembles the AE 1107C engines in its Indianapolis facility, which is nearing completion of a $600-million modernisation effort.

While the US Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force are the primary operators of the V-22, the Japan Ground Self Defence Force has 17 V-22s on order.