The US Navy is approaching a critical 12-month period, with five aircraft programmes going through operational test stages. This has overwhelmed test assets and is leading the navy to review spending priorities.
The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor is preparing to enter a five-month operational test and evaluation (Opeval) phase next January. A 60-day operational assessment to check the aircraft's readiness and correct any problems will end later this month, says Col Craig Olson, V-22 programme manager. Three aircraft had amassed 135 flight hours by 9 June under this process. During Opeval, eight V-22s will be required to fly 400h, demonstrating the aircraft's full envelope. This will allow the navy to ask the US Congress to remove a statute that restricts production to the minimum sustaining rate of 11 aircraft a year until Opeval is passed.
AUS Marine Corps programme to convert its Bell UH-1N Hueys and AH-1W Cobras to the UH-1Y and AH-1Z standard is awaiting the results of a second round of operational assessment completed earlier this year. Opeval is planned before a full-rate production decision in fiscal year 2006.
Meanwhile, the navy's Lockheed Martin MH-60R Seahawk maritime strike helicopter is on track to enter a final testing period this year ahead of Opeval in 2005. Fifty deficiencies identified last year are still being resolved, says Capt Bill Shannon, the navy's H-60 programme manager.
The Sikorsky MH-60S mine-clearing and search-and-rescue helicopter is to enter initial Block 2A configuration tests within a few months. The latest design includes the AMS-20 mine-hunting sensor.
Source: Flight International
