The US Department of Defense has awarded Bell Boeing’s Joint Program Office a contract to provide CMV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft for the US Navy.
As disclosed, the contract covers the production and delivery of five CMV-22B aircraft, while the primary work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas.
Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The work is scheduled to be completed in January 2028. The deal is valued at $590 million.
The CMV-22B Osprey is a variant of the MV-22B and is the replacement for the C-2A Greyhound for the Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) mission. The Osprey is a tiltrotor V/STOL aircraft that can takeoff and land as a helicopter but transit as a turboprop aircraft.
The aircraft provides the US Navy with increased capability and operational flexibility over the C-2A.
CMV-22B operations can be either shore-based, “expeditionary”, or sea-based. The Osprey is a critical warfighting enabler, providing the time sensitive combat logistics needed to support combat operations, the navy emphasized.
The CMV-22B declared initial operational capability (IOC) in 2021. While the Program of Record has 48 CMV-22 projected, the US Navy currently plans to procure 44 aircraft.
The US Navy established Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30 – its first CMV-22B squadron – in a ceremony at Naval Base Coronado in 2018.