U.S. troops and supplies will soon have a new way to arrive on aircraft carriers after the Pentagon inked a new $4 billion aircraft contract.
The agreement with Boeing and Bell Helicopter announced Friday includes 39 of a new Navy variant of the V-22 Osprey aircraft, called the CMV-22B, that would land on the massive ship decks and would transport people and supplies.
The job is now handled by C-2A Greyhound turboprop aircraft that use the carrier’s catapult and arresting gear to take off and land.
Known as the carrier onboard delivery aircraft, or COD, the Greyhounds were introduced in the 1960s and were briefly thrust into the spotlight last year when three aircraft crew members were killed from a crash into the Philippine Sea.
The new aircraft will be tilt-rotors just like the V-22s brought into service a decade ago by the Marine Corps, and will be capable of flying like a turboprop airplane and also of hovering and landing on the carriers like a helicopter.
The Osprey “B” variant being produced by the Boeing-Bell partnership will have a larger fuel tank to give the aircraft longer range for the supply runs and the transport of people to and from ships.
The Navy estimates its Osprey will be deployed in 2021. The Marine Corps is also set to get 34 MV-22Bs and Japan will buy four.
Nearly half of the contract work will be done in Texas and the rest spread over about 10 other states, according to the Pentagon.
