Bill Carey

The U.S. military’s V-22 Joint Program Office is floating an “international acquisition concept” that would bring other potential V-22 operators into a third, multi-year procurement of the tiltrotor aircraft.
“It’s in the early stages, just for awareness purposes,” said Marine Corps. Col. Daniel Robinson, V-22 program manager at the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Maryland. Participating in the program would be “an opportunity to share those costs” of the aircraft, he added.
Speaking at the Farnborough Airshow on Monday, Robinson said the program office hopes to secure commitments for a baseline buy of the third multi-year procurement by mid-2017. Thus far, that procurement would combine the balance of MV-22s remaining in the Marine Corps program of record—84 aircraft—plus 44 CMV-22B variants the Navy seeks and 17 aircraft Japan plans to order.
There are “four or five” unidentified other countries interested in acquiring the V-22. Reportedly, Israel and the UK are among potential buyers. Participation in the international acquisition concept would distribute the cost of the procurement; it also carries with it the possibility of industrial participation, he said.
There are 305 of the tiltrotors now in service, including those acquired through multi-year and earlier procurements. These include 257 Marine Corps’ MV-22s and 48 Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22s. The Navy plans to acquire the CMV-22B to replace the Northrop Grumman C-2 Greyhound in the carrier on-board delivery role. Plans call for deliveries of the Navy’s variant to begin in 2020, with initial operational capability following in 2021. o