Bell Boeing V-22 program officials submitted their contract proposal to the Navy to build the remaining V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft planned for the Marines Corps and Air Force Special Operations Command, the companies announced Thursday. Their five-year, fixed-priced incentive proposal is for the second V-22 multiyear procurement contract. Under it, the companies expect to produce seven AFSOC CV-22s—bringing the Air Force’s Osprey fleet size to 50—and 115 additional MV-22s for the marines from Fiscal 2013 to Fiscal 2017. “In an era that demands greater fiscal responsibility, the MYP II contract would enable us to deliver this revolutionary capability to our customers in the most efficient way, while generating additional savings for the American taxpayer and bringing strength and stability to the industrial base,” said John Radar, Bell Boeing V-22 program executive director. The companies said their V-22 work is presently “on time and under budget.”
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…