The U.S. Marine Corps is working with contractor Rolls Royce to increase the durability of the V-22 Osprey's propulsion system, service officials said.
The service is working to increase the engines' "time on wing" by 45 percent, said Marine Col. Greg Masiello, who heads the V-22 Joint Program Office at Patuxent River, Md., speaking before reporters during a tour of Boeing's manufacturing facilities in Philadelphia on June 6.
However, that measure varies depending upon where the aircraft is deployed. In benign environments the propulsion system performs better while under harsher conditions it does not. Masiello declined to give specific numbers because the service's figures are an aggregate.
One solution the Marines are working on is a system to prevent dust from entering the engines in the first place, Masiello said. Conventional filters found on normal helicopters could rob critical engine power from the hybrid fix-wing/rotary wing design during normal flight in the cruise configuration.
As such, the V-22 team is looking at the propulsion system as a whole to mitigate any power loss incurred by the addition of dust filters, said Boeing's John Rader, program director for the Bell-Boeing team that builds the aircraft. A number of options are being considered, he added.
Rader said some of these improvements are already flying as a proof of concept on test aircraft.
"We actually have hardware that we have already flown through developmental testing at Pax River," Masiello added.
Those improvements could be fielded to the deployed Marine forces as soon as the end of the calendar year, he said.
The added filters could add 30 percent more "time on wing" to the aircraft's engines, Masiello said.
Additionally, the Marines are making a software change that could potentially increase the time on wing by a further 80 percent. "That will fly this summer, we have a target in August to have that airborne and flying," Masiello said. It will also increase the engines'- and the aircraft's- performance.
It would not be the first time software has been used to improve engine performance on the Osprey. An earlier software upgrade added to the engine's power output. The increased power enables the aircraft to cruise some 20 knots faster, said Lt. Col. Romin Dasmalchi, commander of the MV-22 squadron of that recently flew the pilot rescue mission over Libya in March.
The engine improvements are applicable to the Air Force's CV-22 fleet as well.
The service is also making progress more generally in reducing support costs, Masiello said. Some of those cost reductions come from repairing components that would otherwise have been thrown away, he said.
The U.S. Marine Corps wants Rolls Royce to increase the durability of the MV-22 Osprey propulsion system. (Lance Cpl. Santiago G. Colon Jr. / Marine Corps)
However, that measure varies depending upon where the aircraft is deployed. In benign environments the propulsion system performs better while under harsher conditions it does not. Masiello declined to give specific numbers because the service's figures are an aggregate.
One solution the Marines are working on is a system to prevent dust from entering the engines in the first place, Masiello said. Conventional filters found on normal helicopters could rob critical engine power from the hybrid fix-wing/rotary wing design during normal flight in the cruise configuration.
As such, the V-22 team is looking at the propulsion system as a whole to mitigate any power loss incurred by the addition of dust filters, said Boeing's John Rader, program director for the Bell-Boeing team that builds the aircraft. A number of options are being considered, he added.
Rader said some of these improvements are already flying as a proof of concept on test aircraft.
"We actually have hardware that we have already flown through developmental testing at Pax River," Masiello added.
Those improvements could be fielded to the deployed Marine forces as soon as the end of the calendar year, he said.
The added filters could add 30 percent more "time on wing" to the aircraft's engines, Masiello said.
Additionally, the Marines are making a software change that could potentially increase the time on wing by a further 80 percent. "That will fly this summer, we have a target in August to have that airborne and flying," Masiello said. It will also increase the engines'- and the aircraft's- performance.
It would not be the first time software has been used to improve engine performance on the Osprey. An earlier software upgrade added to the engine's power output. The increased power enables the aircraft to cruise some 20 knots faster, said Lt. Col. Romin Dasmalchi, commander of the MV-22 squadron of that recently flew the pilot rescue mission over Libya in March.
The engine improvements are applicable to the Air Force's CV-22 fleet as well.
The service is also making progress more generally in reducing support costs, Masiello said. Some of those cost reductions come from repairing components that would otherwise have been thrown away, he said.
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