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Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs

November 3, 2005

Release Number: 011105



EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Air Force’s second CV-22 Osprey, arrived here on Oct. 27, 2005. The Defense Department took delivery of the second Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey, two months earlier than the contract’s due date.



The first Air Force CV-22 was delivered for electromagnetic testing to NAS Patuxent River, Md. on Sept. 16, 2005, and will arrive at Edwards in December. The third CV-22 is due to be delivered in February 2006, and the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center will use these first three aircraft to conduct an Operational Utility Evaluation next summer. If the CV-22 completes the evaluation successfully it will be certified for use in training operations at Kirtland Air Force Base next fall. The Initial Operational Test and Evaluation for the CV-22 is planned to begin in October 2007.



The Navy’s Operational Test and Evaluation Force and AFOTEC conducted an operational evaluation of the MV-22, the Marine variant of the Osprey, between March and June this year, and rated it operationally effective, suitable and survivable.



The CV-22 is the Special Operations Forces (SOF) variant of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Modifications to the Osprey aircraft made for the CV-22 variant are concentrated in the areas of communication, navigation, mission management and aircraft survivability. The Osprey flight characteristics, including vertical take-off and landing, short take-off and landing and conversion to airplane mode, provide considerable operational flexibility from small landing zone operations to high-speed (230 knots) flight. The Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command plan to procure 50 CV-22s to conduct day or night long-range infiltration, exfiltration and re-supply of special operations forces.



For more information contact Doug Karas at (703) 695-0640.