Aircraft program
Multirole combat tiltrotor capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) developed and manufactured jointly by Bell Helicopter and Boeing.
The tiltrotor design combines the vertical take-off functionality of a helicopter and cruise of a turboprop fixed wing aircraft.
43% of the airframe is constructed from composites including Hercules IM-6 graphite/epoxy in wing and Hercules AS4 graphite/epoxy in tail unit; proprotors with 3 blades of graphite/glass fibre; GFRP nacelle closings and pylon supports; composite floor panels; boron carbide/polyethylene laminate crews seats; graphite flaperons with titanium fittings; and leading edge made of aluminium alloy with Nomex honeycomb core. The fuselage is an aluminium frame with composite skins and window frames are aluminium.
One three-blade, contra-rotating and foldable proprotor and a turboshaft Rolls-Royce engine are mounted on a tilting nacelle at the tip of each high wing. The fuselage has an upswept rear fitted with a loading ramp. The two fins of the H-shaped tail are moderately swept back. Prominent fuselage sponsons contain the landing gear.
Two pilots are seated side by side in crashworthy seats with a third seat for crew chief. The glass cockpit has a large windscreen, main side windows and overhead and knee level transparencies with an overhead rear view mirror. The cockpit is digital with triple redundant fly-by-wire controls. The pilots face four full-colour multi function displays and each have a helmet mounted display, compatible with night vision goggles. The central unit houses a shared active matrix liquid crystal display, engine indication and crew alerting system.
The V-22 is the first production tiltrotor aircraft.
Technical reference compiled with AI research; a value appears only where two independent research passes and a web fact-check agree. Gaps are deliberate.
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See Analytics rates| Variant | Launch / first flight | Production end | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey | 1983 / 1989 | Production: 16 (2006) Bell-Boeing met its 2006 commitment delivering 13 MV-22s to the U.S. Marine Corps and 3 CV-22s to AFSOC, totaling 16 aircraft. The fleet surpassed 23,000 total flight hours during the year. [high]. Baseline variant, unconventional mutli-mission VTOL, includes CMV-22B US Navy COD variant. | |
| Bell Boeing CV-22B Osprey | 1999 / 2002 | Production: 2 (2026) GAMA: Bell V-22. Variant for long-range missions with extra wing fuel tanks. |
| Bell Helicopter Textron/Boeing | News |
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