Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey - Development - Early Development

Early Development

The failure of the Iran hostage rescue mission in 1980 demonstrated to the United States military a need for "a new type of aircraft, that could not only take off and land vertically but also could carry combat troops, and do so at speed." The U.S. Department of Defense began the Joint-service Vertical take-off/landing Experimental (JVX) aircraft program in 1981, under U.S. Army leadership.

The defining mission of the Marine Corps was to perform an amphibious landing, and they were particularly interested in the JVX program, for two reasons:

• They realised that a concentrated strike force was vulnerable to a single nuclear weapon, airborne solutions with good speed and range allowed for significant dispersal.
• Their CH-46s were wearing out; without replacement, the threat of a merger between the Marine Corps and the Army lingered, similar to President Truman's proposal following World War II.

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps were given the lead in 1983. The JVX combined requirements from the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, Army and Navy. A request for proposals (RFP) was issued in December 1982 for JVX preliminary design work. Interest in the program was expressed by Aérospatiale, Bell Helicopter, Boeing Vertol, Grumman, Lockheed, and Westland. The DoD pushed for contractors to form teams. Bell partnered with Boeing Vertol. The Bell Boeing team submitted a proposal for an enlarged version of the Bell XV-15 prototype on 17 February 1983. This was the only proposal received and a preliminary design contract was awarded on 26 April 1983.

The JVX aircraft was designated V-22 Osprey on 15 January 1985; by that March the first six prototypes were being produced, and Boeing Vertol was expanded to deal with the project workload. Work has been split evenly between Bell and Boeing. Bell Helicopter manufactures and integrates the wing, nacelles, rotors, drive system, tail surfaces, and aft ramp, as well as integrates the Rolls-Royce engines and performs final assembly. Boeing Helicopters manufactures and integrates the fuselage, cockpit, avionics, and flight controls. The USMC variant of the Osprey received the MV-22 designation and the U.S. Air Force variant received CV-22; this was reversed from normal procedure to prevent Marine Corps Ospreys from having a conflicting designation with aircraft carriers (CV). Full-scale development of the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft began in 1986. On 3 May 1986 the Bell Boeing partnership was awarded a $1.714 billion contract for V-22 aircraft by the U.S. Navy. At this point all four U.S. military services had acquisition plans for V-22 versions.

The first V-22 was rolled out with significant media attention in May 1988. The project suffered several blows. That year, the U.S. Army left the program, citing a need to focus its budget on more immediate aviation programs. The project faced opposition in the Senate in 1989, surviving two votes that both could have resulted in cancellation. Despite the Senate's decision, the Department of Defense instructed the U.S. Navy not to spend more money on the Osprey. When the V-22's projected development budget greatly increased in 1988, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney tried to remove funding from 1989 to 1992 in an effort to cancel it. He was eventually overruled by Congress, which provided unrequested funding for the program. Multiple studies of alternative aircraft found the V-22 provided more capability and combat effectiveness with similar operating costs as the alternatives. The Clinton Administration was supportive of the V-22 and helped the program attain funding.