V-22 Osprey

The V-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor combat aircraft. The V-22 Osprey both combines the vertical performance of a helicopter and uses the speed and range of what a fixed-winged aircraft produces. The primary suppliers for the aircraft are Boeing and Bell Helicopter. While Northrop Grumman supplies the DIRCM (Directional Infrared Counter Measure) and Raytheon supplies the FLIR(Forward Looking Infrared Radar), MMR (Mulit-Mode Receiver), MAGR (Miniaturized Airborne GPS Receiver), IFF (Identification Friend or Foe), mission planning, and maintenance system. (Note, there are other notable suppliers that supported the creation of the V-22 Osprey that are not mentioned.) There has been a total of 458 V-22 Ospreys manufactured. The fly away cost for each V-22 Osprey is exactly, $72.1 million dollars. The height of the V-22 Osprey sits about 22.1 feet tall (6.73m). The length and width of the V-22 Osprey when the rotors and wings are spread is 57’3” feet (17.5m) and 84’7” feet (2.58m), respectively. The wings and rotors are also able to fold in when boarding aircraft carriers. The new dimensions once they are folded in are, 63′ feet (19.20m) by 18’11’ feet (5.8m) by 18’3” feet (5.5m). Notably, the V-22 Ospreys payload system can carry a crew chief and 24 troops. The aircraft can also externally carry up to 15,000 pounds with a dual-hook. However, the aircraft can also hold up to 20,000 ponds of internal cargo. Additionally, the V-22 Osprey uses two Rolls-Royce AE1107C, with each engine producing 6,150 shaft horse power. The aircrafts maximum cruise speed is 270kts (500 km/h). The V-22 Osprey is able to land without visual reference via cockpit instruments. The aircrafts cockpit displays indicated attitude, altitude, drift vectors, drift acceleration, and power settings. With this in mind, the aircraft is then able to use its INS system to land in a brown-out or in a situation where the pilot is unable to see below. An INS system is a inertial navigation system that uses a computers, motion sensors, rotation sensors, and more. The V-22 Osprey has factual evidence to say, the aircraft is the most survivable rotorcraft ever built.