Boeing and Bell Helicopter Textron today announced that the Bell Boeing V-22 fleet fleet, including the CV-22 (aeronautical) and MV-22 (marines) variants, exceeded the 400.000 flight flight goal.
The V-22 Osprey has been regularly deployed since joining the 2007 with the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) in the 2009. The plane has been widely used in Afghanistan during the mission Enduring Freedom, in Iraq as part of the operation Iraqi Freedom, and at the US Central Command (USCENTCOM) Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) to support a long-range rapid crisis response force.
"As the number of flight hours indicates, the V-22 Osprey is a mature platform for military and relief operations"said Marine Colonel Matthew Kelly, head of the joint V-22 program.
The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is a multi-purpose combat aircraft that uses tilt-rotor technology to combine the vertical performance of a helicopter with the speed and autonomy of a fixed wing aircraft. With its gondolas and rotors in an upright position, it can take off, land and swing like a helicopter. Once in flight, the gondolas can be rotated to turn the plane into a turboprop airplane capable of flying at high speed and altitude.
