MV-22 Rebuilt as CV-22
A Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) MV-22 Osprey is being remanufactured to Special Operations CV-22 standards on the Boeing Philadelphia production and Bell Amarillo assembly lines. Osprey No. 25 will become the Additional Test Asset (ATA) for CV-22 development at Edwards Air Force Base, California. It will make a third CV-22 available for testing the multi-mode radar, Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures, and Directed Infrared Countermeasures required by the Air Force Special Operations Command. Current plans give AFSOC 50 CV-22s between Fiscal 2006 and 2017.
The early LRIP Osprey was completed before the Block A production refinements were incorporated in the V-22. Block A introduces numerous safely and supportability improvements including new nacelle doors for better access to critical systems and revised wiring harnesses. Bell Amarillo has modified early production Ospreys to Block A standards and currently has 14 pre-modification MV-22s preserved at Amarillo, Texas. All new production Ospreys are to Block A standards.
The CV-22 ATA was pulled from storage and disassembled. The fuselage flew back to Philadelphia aboard a Super Guppy transport while the wing remained in Amarillo for rework. The fuselage will return to Amarillo for re-assembly in April 2004.
The Amarillo assembly line will deliver 18 Block A modified and Block A production MV-22s next year, plus the CV-22 ATA. The ATA will give the Integrated Test Team 10 Ospreys for development testing at Edwards and NAS Patuxent River. V-22 test aircraft recently passed 1,000 flight hours since the program returned to flight. In addition, the Marine Corps has designated its Osprey Operational Evaluation Squadron VMX-22.
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