Development of Bell Boeing's V-22 Osprey is a story tinged with tragedy, but the programme is resilient enough to survive and now to prosper while others have fallen by the wayside. Paul Derby reports on a brighter outlook for the aircraft.
Looking ahead rather than dwelling on the past is probably the best phrase to sum up the positive approach being taken by the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey programme team here at Farnborough this week.
Bolstered by a restructured route-map toward full production, the tiltrotor is due to enter a second operational evaluation (Opeval) early next year - the largest remaining hurdle towards full-rate manufacture.
The feeling that the programme is back on track contrasts sharply with the Team Osprey presence here two years ago. Then the focus was clearly on the fixes to the aircraft and the programme that needed to take place to ensure the long-term survival of the V-22.
Two fatal accidents had placed serious question marks over whether the aircraft would ever make it out of the development phase. Now, however, all the recommendations of the independent 'Blue Ribbon' investigation panel have been implemented, the question marks about tiltrotor technology answered, and there is a sense that the programme is 'straight and level' again.
USAF programme manager Col Craig Olson says open lines of communication and an event-driven approach are key features of the V-22 team's way of working: "I'm comfortable because I know there is no pressure to enter the second Opeval until we are absolutely ready. We're looking at January, but what will really determine when we enter Opeval is the operational test readiness review in November and December.
"Every programme has schedules and targets to meet, of course, but there is a clear understanding that we will move forward when it's right to do so.
"Our focus between now and then is on a whole range of reliability and maintainability metrics that we need to satisfy ahead of Opeval. We are getting there, but there is still work to do."
The V-22 Integrated Test Team completed Phase IV B of the Osprey's shipboard suitability testing at the end of June, marking the fifth of six at-sea periods the tiltrotor will go through during the aircraft's development tests.
Aircraft spent eight days aboard the USS Iwo Jima operating in waters off the coast of Maryland. The goal was to prove the Osprey's capability on and around an amphibious assault ship.
The test team also studied the effect on a V-22 sitting on the flight deck behind a hovering V-22. The work followed findings from shipboard testing in 1999 when the V-22 demonstrated a tendency to tilt along its lateral axis when sitting on the flight deck behind a hovering aircraft - a phenomenon known as 'uncommanded roll on deck.'
"All of our test results with regard to roll on deck were as good as or better than anticipated," said Lt Col Kevin Gross, USMC, government flight test director and chief V-22 test pilot. "The handling of the Osprey in the shipboard environment is proving to be one of its strong characteristics."
As the team's direction moves away from 'fixes', so the attention turns to the economics and industry-led part of the development work.
Efforts are under way to reduce the unit cost of the aircraft from $74 million to $58 million by 2010 and the challenge is to demonstrate that the technology can now be translated into business delivery, time after time and on budget.
The V-22 was given a further boost earlier this year when the US Navy included an order for the MV-22 variant in its long-term spending plans.
The navy has the aircraft in its five-year requirement, outlined in a document called the programme objective memorandum (POM). A notional design, previously touted for the navy, had been designated the HV-22, but the service plans to drop this designation.
Looking ahead, the acid test next year will be a Defense Acquisition Board decision on full-rate production for the V-22, known as Milestone 3. Until then, the joint Bell Boeing team remains in low-rate initial production mode, but plans are in place to ramp up the assembly process at a sustainable rate.
Reaching Milestone 3 will complete a remarkable turnaround for the Osprey. The team here stresses the work that has gone into training and the vastly improved simulation capability now available to train crews in the techniques needed to recover from vortex ring state (VRS) - the phenomenon whereby air recirculates below the rotor discs and lift is lost during descent under power.
VRS was identified as the cause of the April 2000 accident in which a V-22 was lost. It later transpired that the crew had too little knowledge of VRS to be able to deal with it adequately and recover the aircraft.
The second V-22 accident in December 2000 was found to be caused by the combination of a software error in the flight control system and a hydraulic leak inside one of the nacelles. A redesign package eliminated the potential for the problem to reoccur and the programme re-started flight testing in April 2002. The return to the air marked a fresh start in many ways for the programme. Solutions have been implemented, a robust flight test programme is in full swing and it may be that future visitors to Farnborough will have the opportunity to see the aircraft fly. That prospect would provide the best possible ending to one of the longest- running development stories the US military has ever known.
Source: Flight Daily News
