Air Force orders Osprey training devices

PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force has ordered three new Osprey CV-22 training devices and an upgrade to an existing device from Bell-Boeing, the joint venture announced.

The contract will upgrade a CV-22 Cabin Part Task Trainer and two fuselage aircrew/maintenance trainers at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., to create a full-fuselage Cabin Operational Flight Trainer.

The Bell-Boeing V-22 Program also will deliver a new Wing Part Task Trainer to Kirtland, while Hurlburt Field, Fla., and Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., will receive two new COFTs.

The CPTT currently is the only device that provides V-22 emergency egress training. Its additional training capabilities include cargo loading, cargo air delivery, virtual fast ropers, combined real and virtual hoist operations, medevac configuration, lighting, communications, night vision, emergency procedures, and refueling and defueling procedures.

All of these capabilities will be included in the upgraded and new COFTs.

"The new COFTs will be made from the first CV-22 test flight vehicles," said Mark McGraw, Boeing vice president for Training Systems & Services. "They and the upgraded CPTT include enhancements to provide high-fidelity training in nearly two dozen tasks."

More than 145 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft are in operation today. Marine Corps MV-22s are deployed in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit for contingency operations, while Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22s are deployed in ongoing Special Operations missions.