The Bell Boeing V-22 Program, a strategic alliance between Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. (TXT) and Boeing (BA), has been granted a five-year U.S. Naval Air Systems Command or NAVAIR contract for the production and delivery of 99 V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, consisting of 92 MV-22 models for the U.S. Marine Corps and seven CV-22 models for the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command.
The contract, valued at around $6.5 billion, is structured to provide about $1 billion in savings to the U.S. government compared with procurements through single-year contracts. Also, the contract includes a provision permitting NAVAIR to order up to 23 additional aircraft.
The V-22 Osprey is a joint service, multirole combat aircraft that uses tiltrotor technology to combine the speed and range of a fixed-wing airplane with the vertical performance of a helicopter. Over 200 V-22 Ospreys are now in operation and the worldwide fleet has amassed more than 185,000 flight hours, with half of those hours logged in the past three years.
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