The Bell-Boeing team has delivered the first combat-configured CV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft to Air Force Special Operations Command. Getting the keys to the new Osprey was Lt. Col. Jim Cardoso, commander of 71st Special Operations Squadron, which will use the new special ops aircraft for aircrew training at Kirtland AFB, N.M. At a March 1 ceremony at the Bell assembly center in Amarillo, Tex., Maj. Gen. Donald Wurster, AFSOC vice commander, called the CV-22 “the single most significant transformation” for special ops since introduction of the helicopter. AFSOC expects to field the CV-22 by 2009.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.