Bell-Boeing contracted for V-22 sustainment and upgrade planning

Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Bell-Boeing, a joint venture between Boeing and Bell Helicopter, received a $58 million order to provide various services for the U.S. Navy's V-22 Osprey aircraft.

The joint venture's latest contract with the Navy includes engineering and technical support in addition to flight test planning. The company will also perform avionics upgrade planning, qualification testing and integration testing.

Services will be rendered at Ridley Park, Penn., and Fort Worth, Texas. The U.S. Department of Defense expects the work to be complete by December 2019.

Bell-Boeing received $33 million in fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement funds from the Navy and the U.S. Air Force at the time of the contract award, with $25.9 million set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity.

The MV-22 Osprey has been in active service with the U.S. Armed Forces since 2007, primarily used by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Air Force. The aircraft is fitted with fixed-wing and rotary-wing capabilities, and is built for high-speed vertical takeoff and landing.